Lake Maxincuckee is one of the locations in Indiana where filmmaker Robert Weide (left) interviewed Kurt Vonnegut. (Photo courtesy of IFC Films.)
The Indiana Film Journalists Association selected “Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time” as the best documentary in 2021 and awarded the film about the iconic author, who graduated from Shortridge High School in 1940, the Edward Johnson-Ott Hoosier Award.
The group of critics named “Mass”, a drama in which two parents asked and answered difficult questions after a tragedy, as the best film of the year. “Mass” received a total of four awards, including the best original screenplay, the best ensemble play and the breakthrough of the year for director Fran Kranz.
Founded in 2009, the Indiana Film Journalists Association (IFJA) is dedicated to promoting film criticism in the state of Hoosier and supporting the growing Indian film industry. It also gives annual awards for the film year.
The winners for 2021 in 16 categories were announced on Monday.
“Mass” will be screened at this year’s Heartland International Film Festival. Four other films that were shown at the Indianapolis Festival, “The Power of the Dog,” “Spencer,” “C’mon, C’mon” and “Flee” won awards from the Indiana Film Journalists Association.
“Mass” follows “Nomadland” (2020), “Marriage Story” (2019) and “The Hate U Give” (2018) as winners of the best films selected by the Indiana Film Journalists Association in recent years.
“Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time” was released in November, nearly 40 years after Emmy-winning director and screenwriter Robert Weide sent Vonnegut an unsolicited letter asking for permission to make a film about the author of “Slaughterhouse-Five” had. Cat’s Cradle ”and“ Breakfast of Champions ”.
Weide, known for directing nearly 30 episodes of the HBO series “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” mailed the letter in 1982 and began filming Unstuck in Time in 1988 when Vonnegut took a train ride from Albany, New York to Buffalo . Vonnegut, who died in 2007 at the age of 84, and Weide became close friends.
The film includes a visit to Shortridge in 1994, where Vonnegut of Indianapolis remembered high school pranks.
The Edward Johnson-Ott Hoosier Award, named in honor of the Nuvo Newsweekly critic who died in April, recognizes the work of artists with roots in Indiana or a film that depicts the places and stories of Indiana.
The winners in 16 categories:
Best movie
Winner: “Mass”
Runner-up: “Drive My Car”
Other best film finalists (in alphabetical order):
“Annette”
“The card counter”
“C’mon C’mon”
“KODA”
“The Green Knight”
“The last duel”
“Pig”
“The Power of the Dog”
Best animated feature
Winner: “Flee”
Runner-up: “Luca”
Best foreign language film
Winner: “Drive my car”
Runner-up: “Lamm”
Best documentation
Winner: “Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time”
Runner-up: “Procession”
Best original script
Winner: Fran Kranz, “Masse”
Runner-up: Mike Mills, “Come on, come on”
Best adapted script
Winner: Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe, “Drive My Car”
Runner-up: Nicole Holofcener, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, “The Last Duel”
Best director
Winner: Jane Campion, “The Power of the Dog”
Runner-up: Fran Kranz, “Mass”
Best Actress
Winner: Kristen Stewart, “Spencer”
Runner-up: Jodie Comer, “The Last Duel”
The best supporting actress
Winner: Gaby Hoffmann, “Come on, come on”
Runner-up: Ariana DeBose, “West Side Story”
Best actor
Winner: Oscar Isaac, “The Card Counter”
Runner-up: Nicolas Cage, “Pig”
Best supporting actor
Winner: Troy Kotsur, “CODA”
Runner-up: Jason Isaacs, “Mass”
Best vocal / motion capture performance
Winner: Olivia Colman, “The Mitchells vs. the Machines”
Runner-up: Tom Hardy, “Venom: Let There Be Carnage”
Best ensemble play
Winner: “Mass”
Runner-up: “The People”
Best musical score
Winner: Jonny Greenwood, “The Power of the Dog”
Runner-Up: Hans Zimmer, “Dune”
Outbreak of the year
Winner: Fran Kranz, “Masse”
Second: Michael Sarnoski, “Pig”
Original Vision Award
Winner: “Annette”
Runner-up: “Titan”
Edward Johnson-Ott Hoosier Prize
Winner: “Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time”
(No runner-up is named in this category.)
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