WILLiFEST | 2011 Screenplay Competition

Following is our list of the top screenplay award winners at WILLiFEST 2011.
Our new winners will be announced by August 20, 2012.

Winner – Best Screenplay

VINES by Adam Whitaker

Synopsis: A widow with a newborn, a policeman in the shadow of his war-hero brother, and a teacher who has never been very good at living and for whom trying is never divorced from failing; all are ordinary people living ordinary lives at each other’s expense. The widow begins her introduction to motherhood alone while trying to maintain a lifestyle that had taken two to create. The shadows within the policeman had always been safeguarded from the light by the façade he presented for the benefit of others, though that façade is tested under the weight of the brother’s laurels and his own pursuits. The teacher’s life of steady banality is interrupted by the potential for success and romance when an agent shows an interest in his writing and a co-worker shows an interest in him, but as he does his best to embrace that potential a part of him expects it to be eventually proven false, and even if real, he may not know how to see it through. None are simply good, and none simply bad, as neither classification is ordinary.

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://adamwhitaker.wordpress.com

Outstanding Achievement in Screenwriting – Second Place

POTPARTI by William Day & Zebidiah Millett

Synopsis: Steve’s wife has left him. He loses his job, his car is towed, and he is utterly broke. Immune to life lessons, Steve forges ahead to prove to his wife that though she may have won over their friends, he can still outdo her in the party department. Except that, well, he can’t.

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://billandzeb.blogspot.com/

Outstanding Achievement in Screenwriting – Third Place

SCREAMING MY HEART OUT by Janyce Lapore

Synopsis: The actions of four girls, from the same Italian family, coming of age in a small steel mill town in the late 60's, threatens the very fiber of Italian American life as each girl defies tradition and expectation to find a future that lies beyond the boundaries of their own front porch. This is a passionate family tale that is both hilarious and heartbreaking.

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://janycelapore.wordpress.com/

HONORABLE MENTIONS

in alphabetic order

Caterpillar's Skin, The
Writer: Raffaele Passerini
When Rita, a male to female pre-op transsexual, is diagnosed with HIV, she has a difficult decision to make. Does she sacrifice her dream of becoming a woman in order to survive? Or, does she die staying true to whom she is?

Cutthroat
Writer: James Hsiao
Three medical students engage in a competition to see who can save the most lives, but their ambition causes them to cross some lines. Soon, their efforts at being doctors are sabotaged, and they end up in the ER, one by one, on the brink of death. With their lives at stake, they work together to find the culprit before it is too late.

Galapagos
Writer: Lukas Hassel
Earth, 2437. The Sun's gravitational pull has weakened and Earth is shifting outwards. With each passing century, surface temperatures have dropped. The hot vents from Earth's molten core provided Man's last habitable place, the ocean floor. Hundreds of sub oceanic stations were built. A small number of people got to go below. Stranded above the ice, everyone else, billions, perished over time. On the seabed many more died. Today, few remain.

The tiny crew of Galapagos Station face disaster when their greenhouse floods. With nothing left to live for, what makes life worth living?

Hotel Danger!
Writers: Zebidiah Millett and William Day
Set in 1911, hunting down guests at his father's hotel has become stale for Gui. The only man able to outwit and outrun him every time is Michael Keaton, famed actor, and even that year-long rivalry is fleeting...until Gui catches wind of Keaton secretly planning an extravagant ball with Gui's longtime servant; an invitation that is not extended to Gui. Having been betrayed by his subservient, indentured friend, Gui breaks all of his game's rules to make sure he puts an end to Keaton once and for all.

Loisaida (Lower East Side)
Writer: Charles Lyons
Loisaida - 'Oliver meets A Fistful of Dollars.'

When a mysterious briefcase goes missing in Loisaida (Sp. Lower East Side) Manhattan - an ex-Marine fights to protect a teen pickpocket from black market gangsters.

Outcasts
Writer: Alex Saveliev
After witnessing the brutal massacre of their entire family, two young boys escape from a ruthless Russian criminal, Konushev, and his posse of thugs. An intense chase sequence through the streets of Moscow leads to a narrow escape to the boy's country house, where a thrilling battle for survival ensues. We then throw a retrospective glance at Konushev's past, and take a look at the events that shaped him. The film ends with one of the most exhilarating sequences in cinematic history. Set against the backdrop of contemporary Moscow, this thriller combines elements of drama and sociopolitical commentary; it's an ode to Russian history, but also a universal story of survival, its young protagonists embodying the rapidly diminishing innocence in today's society.

Second Thoughts
Writer: Chris Warner
Facing personal and professional crises, a young woman begins turning to her music-fueled daydreams to help cope with stress.

Take My Wife
Writer: Brett Carlson
A guy trying to save his troubled marriage with the sexy spice of a professional gigolo mistakenly hires a hit man to target his wife. Now the hapless husband, and a goofball former band mate, must penetrate the criminal underworld of this beachside town to save his wife in this adventure comedy.

Terrible Turk, The
Writer: Emine Dursun
In 1890's, the time of ending eastern empires and conquering western civilization, New York was a strange culture and strange vision for the Ottoman wrestler who defeated all his rivals in Europe and the United States. Yusuf wrestles in shadow of virtue, beliefs and love. He struggles between cultures as his fame carries him to the top of the wrestling history.

Inspired by the true story of a man with superhuman strenght known by the world as The Terrible Turk. REMI winner for feature screenwriting at the World Fest, Houston International Film Festival, 2011.