And the Golden Space Needle Goes to...

Doris Dörrie's Cherry Blossoms - Hanami

SIFF concluded yesterday with its usual slew of awards. The gentle, sentimental, and accessible usually dominates the popular voting (i.e. those little cards you tear up after each show), usually with a dollop of international good feeling (we love subtitles here in Seattle), and this year was no exception. Culled from some 70,000 ballots, the Golden Space Needle went to the German Cherry Blossoms - Hanami, which our Frank Paiva saw and loved in his short review.

More awards and thoughts after the jump, plus the alternative honors voted by the generally more discerning full-series (aka the "Fool Serious") pass holders....

Cherry Blossoms already has a deal in place from Strand Releasing, which means you'll probably get a chance to see it at a smaller Seattle arthouse venue later this year.

Ranked by popular vote in places two through nine were:

2) Frozen River, directed by Courtney Hunt (USA)
3) Fugitive Pieces, directed by Jeremy Podeswa (Canada)
4) Captain Abu Raed, directed by Amin Matalqa (Jordan)
5) The Drummer, directed by Kenneth Bi (Hong Kong)
6) Summer Heat, directed by Monique van de Ven (the Netherlands)
7) Letting Go of God, directed by Julia Sweeney (USA)
8) Late Bloomers, directed by Bettina Oberli (Switzerland)
9) Bliss, directed by Abdullah Oguz (Turkey)
10) Michou d'Auber, directed by Thomas Gilou (France)

Other popular winners were the L.A. studio musician documentary The Wrecking Crew (probably bound for DVD or the Northwest Film Forum), actor Alan Rickman in the retro wine-country comedy Bottle Shock, and actress Jessica Chastain for festival co-founder Dan Ireland's Jolene--which was only screened in advance, I'm told, for "friends" and not critics. Draw your own conclusions.

When it comes to SIFF's myriad, complex categories, they seem designed to create as many award-worthy taxonomies as possible. Thus from the juried honors: the indies Em and The Bluetooth Virgin were both lauded. For me, the first had too little story, and the second too much witless chatter.

Mermaid, from Russian director Anna Melikyan

I have no idea which is better when it comes to the "Grand Jury Prize" (for the French-Canadian Everything Is Fine, which I found not so fine) and the "Special Jury Prize" (for the Russian Mermaid, which was infinitely better).

Among docs, the SIFF cinephiles favored Derek, the documentary portrait of the late director.

You can find the full list of SIFF winners (and this year's festival stats) here.

Then there's the Fool Serious contingent. Proudly wearing their passes on neck lanyards (including the vaunted platinum pass, which probably costs more than my condo), these are the people I see most often during SIFF, since they sit in on the press screenings beginning all the way back in April. The Fool Serious Web site is open to members only (big surprise), and its members prefer the honorific "most liked" rather than best. Thus among the features:

1. Cherry Blossoms - Hanami
2. The Edge of Heaven
3. Time to Die
4. Bliss
5. Frozen River
6. Love and Honor
7. Captain Abu Raed
8. The Unknown Woman
9. [Secret Festival presentation]
10. Ben X

And among docs:

1) Casting a Glance
2) Saving Luna
3) Stranded: I've Come From a Plane that Crashed on the Mountains
4) The Wrecking Crew

What did I like best? That'll have to wait until tomorrow....