Seattle fest fetes best

The 2001 Golden Space Needle Award winners were determined by popular audience vote, with awards in six categories selected from more than 200 feature films from 50 countries.

Chan-wook Park's "Joint Security Area," Jean-Jacques Beineix's "Mortal Transfer," Terry Zwigoff's "Ghost World" and Francis Veber's "The Closet" were named runners-up in the best picture category.

Tim Blake Nelson took home the director nod for "O," his modern twist on "Othello"; runners-up were Beineix ("Mortal Transfer"), Thailand's Oxide Pang and Danny Pang ("Bangkok: Dangerous"), Australian helmer Paul Cox ("Innocence") and Probst ("Finder's Fee").

Mitchell, Birch tapped

John Cameron Mitchell took actor kudos for "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," which he also wrote and helmed, and Thora Birch received the actress nod for "Ghost World," based on the Daniel Clowes comicbook. Best docu was "Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition," directed by George Butler. Kate Davis' "Southern Comfort," Doug Pray's "Scratch," Patti Obrow White's "If I Could" and Jan Harlan's "Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures" were runners-up.

"Boychick," directed by Glen Gaylord, won the short film prize, with Eric Anderson's "Horse on Mars," Richard Doherty's "My Chorus," Anthony Ng's "S (dot dot dot)" and Josephy Cahill's "Okenka (Little Windows/Film Frames)" runners-up.

Hitting the 'Jackpot'

Also presented were the festival's juried awards. The New American Cinema Award went to "Jackpot," directed by Michael Polish, while the Jason Bloom-helmed "Viva Las Nowhere" took home the Special Jury Prize. The Swedish-Italian collaboration "Tillsammans" ("Together"), directed by Lukas Moodysson, won the New Directors Showcase Award. The Special Jury Prize was shared by Swedish film "Before the Storm," helmed by Reza Parsa, and South Korean pic "Joint Security Area."

Jury prizes also were awarded for the inaugural year of the "On Location: Shooting in Seattle" series. Garrett Bennett's "Farewell to Harry" took film kudos; "Nuts and Bolts," directed by Peter J. Vogt and Mark Van-S, won the Special Jury Prize; and Brian McDonald's "White Face" was honored for creative merit.

Often cited as one of the top five film festivals in North America, the Seattle Fest was selected by the Independent Feature Project in 1994 as a festival in which presentation qualifies a film without distribution for consideration in the Independent Spirit Awards. Fest is organized by Cinema Seattle, a not-for-profit, membership-based organization.