‘Sujo’ Signed, ‘Fluxx’ and ‘Black Dog’ Lock In Top Awards at Vashon Island Film Festival
"Fluxx" team accepting audience award for best feature

After the final festival screening and Q&A with “Sujo” director, Fernanda Valadez and one of its producers Jewerl Keats Ross, the Vashon Island Film Festival’s Red Bicycle Awards were handed out to the films that topped the list with jurors and audience members. 

But before we get to the award winners, it was teased out during the Q&A that “Sujo” had signed a distribution deal a few weeks earlier with Mark Mathias Sayre’s sales company The Forge. That’s great news for a film that has racked up plenty of film fest accolades but has yet to see broader audience reach.

Once on the Backlot, Sayre took to the stage to officially close out the third year of the fest he founded, with the announcement of the winners of the Red Bicycle Awards.  

“Black Dog” left the island with 4 awards including the jurors top prize, “Resynator” snagged a couple of nods, and Fluxxed walked away as an audience favorite.

Here’s a complete list of festival winners:

Burton Award for Excellence in Short Filmmaking – “Bob’s Funeral” by Jack Dunphy
Audience Award for Best Short – “Bob’s Funeral” by Jack Dunphy
Best shortCUTZ (sponsored by C’Mon Barber) – “Boo” by Jake Conroy
Best Supporting Actor – Eryk Lubos for “Swarm”
Best Cinematography – Gao Weizhe for “Black Dog”
Best Production Design – Brandon Tonner-Connolly for “I Saw the TV Glow”
Best Original Music – Chris Ruggiero for “Resynator”
Best Screenplay – Ge Rui and Guan Hu for “Black Dog”
Best Editing – Kathryn Robson for “Resynator”
Best Director – Guan Hu for “Black Dog”
Best Actor – Everett Blunck for “Griffin in Summer”
Quartermaster Award for Best Feature – “Black Dog”
Audience Award for Best Feature – “Fluxx”