The 2009 First Run Film Festival closed on Sunday March 29th with the Wasserman Awards ceremony, featuring the Charles and Lucille King Family Foundation Awards. The three award-winning films from the undergraduate and graduate film programs will be celebrated with gala screenings in Los Angeles.
In the Graduate Film program, Kim Spurlock was awarded 1st prize for her thesis film, 'Down in the Number 5'; she was also awarded the Wasserman Prize for Direction. 2nd prize went to Rashaad Ernesto Green for his second-year film 'Premature', which has already won the Grand Prize for Best Short Film in the HBO Short Film Competition; Rashaad was also awarded the King Award for Screenwriting. 3rd prize was awarded to Carlo Mirabella-Davis for his thesis 'Knife Point', which was recently in competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
The remaining Wasserman / King finalists from the Graduate Film program were: Liliana Greenfield-Sanders for her second-year film 'Adelaide'; Joshua Hume for his thesis film 'William's Christening'; Kai Orion for his second-year film 'Copper on the Chopping Block'; and Imogen Thomas for her thesis film 'Mixed Bag'.
The First Run Film Festival is an annual celebration of the work of NYU film students. In addition to the Wasserman / King Awards, a variety of craft and achievement awards are also given for excellence in the different aspects of film-making.
