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SILVER LAKE FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2004 AWARDS
William Karel's Documentary "The World According To Bush"
Named Best Picture

September 30th Gala At ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood Included Los Angeles Premiere of David O. Russell's "Soldier's Pay"

"The World According To Bush," William Karel's searing documentary about the Bush administration's first 1,000 days in power, won Best Picture honors at the 5th Silver Lake Film Festival, which concluded yesterday.

Spending more than eight months battling what the Tunisian-born, Swiss filmmaker said was "the veil of secrecy" surrounding those in office, Karel filmed 26 detailed interviews with political personalities including Secretary of State Colin Powell, neo-conservative Richard Perle, and former CIA directors James Woolsey and David Kay. The film has been described as the thinking man's version of Michael Moore's "9/11."

The presentation of "The World" at the 5th Silver Lake Film Festival marked its U.S. premiere. To date, the film has not secured a distribution deal in the U.S. although acquisition executives from several independent distributors were actively pursuing negotiations following the film's screening at the festival.

The Closing Night awards presentation included the Los Angeles premiere screening of the controversial anti-war documentary by co-directors Tricia Regan, David O. Russell and Juan Carlos Zaldivar, and the screening of "Unconstitutional: The War On Our Civil Liberties," directed by Nonny de la Pena and executive produced by Robert Greenwald.

Also winning awards were co-directors Maryte Kavaliauskas' and Seth Schneidman's visually stunning film about one of the masters of contemporary art, "David Hockney: The Colors of Music" for Best Documentary; director Jordan Ellis' drama about a family on the verge of a nervous breakdown, "A Little Crazy," for Best Feature Narrative; director Armen Titizian's psychological character study, "Inside Irwin," for Audience Favorite; Lawrence Bridges' opus shot over a 12-year-period about mythological gods searching for themselves in modern-day Los Angeles, simply titled "12," for Best Experimental Feature, and director Jira Maligool's enchanting portrait of rural life in Thailand, "Mekhong Full Moon Party," for Best Foreign Language Film.

A complete list of award winners follows:

" Best Picture - "The World According to Bush" by director William Karel
" Best Documentary - "David Hockney: The Colors of Music by Maryte Kavaliauskas and Seth Schneidman
" Best Narrative Feature - "A Little Crazy" by Jordan Ellis
"Purgatory House" which was awarded "Best First Narrative Feature" for director Cindy Baer
" Best Foreign Language Film - "Mekong Full Moon Party" by Jira Maligool
" Audience Favorite - "Inside Irwin" by Armen Titizian
" Best Experimental Feature: "12" by Lawrence Bridges
" Best Performances in a Feature Film (in alphabetical order):
Ruben Bansie-Snellman for "The Graffiti Artist"
Genevieve Bujold fro "Finding Home"
Celeste Davis for "Purgatory House"
Christo Dimassis for "Inside Irwin"
Jack Kerrigan for "A Little Crazy"
" Best Short Films (in alphabetical order)
"9:30" by Mun Chee Yong
"Accidental Life" by Robert Day O'Campo
"Be Very Quiet" by Mona Nahm
"Coyote 13" by Alfonso Corona
"Dead Broke" by Patrick Hasson
"Dimensia" by Paul Marchand
"Foo Foo Dust" by Gina Levy
"Hide" by Jeff Phillips
"Pol Pot's Birthday" by Talmage Cooley
"The Rooster Project" by Mike Mayfield
"TSH" by Jesse Lerner