WINNERS NAMED IN WESTCHESTER'S 1st ANNUAL FILM FESTIVAL

Westchester County Executive Andy Spano announced the winners of Westchester County's First Annual Film Festival last night at a gala awards ceremony held at the Performing Arts Center at SONY Purchase.

Awards were given for best feature, best documentary, best narrative short and best documentary short. A Lifetime Achievement Award was also given to two-time Tony winner Frances Sternhagen of New Rochelle and a Prime Time Award was given to Ronald L. Schwary, executive producer of the hit CBS Television series "Now and Again,"

Winners of the festival were as follows:

BEST FEATURE

"The Auteur Theory" by Evan Oppenheimer of Mamaroneck. A clever who-done-it about film students who are killed off one by one at an Independent Film Festival. Premiered at the 1999 Fort Lauderdale Film Festival.

BEST DOCUMENTARY

"Americanos: Latino Life in the U.S." by directors Susan Todd and Andrew Young of Croton-on-Hudson and producer actor Edward James Olmos explores the contributions of Latinos from a Mexican American Elvis impersonator to the first Hispanic woman in the President's cabinet. Includes music of Carlos Santana, Eddie Palmieri, Celia Cruz, Lhasa and others.

BEST NARRATIVE SHORT

"Italian Lessons," Directed by Vincent Sassone of Manhattan and produced by James Ellis of Scarsdale, A high school student learns from his attractive tutor that Italian is truly the language of love.

BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY

"Grist for the Mill"- By director Cynthia Wade, formerly of Croton-on-Hudson, a documentary/drama on one Westchester couple's struggle with divorce and its impact on their children.

The festival is part of Westchester Film Month sponsored by the County's Film Office and the Millennium Commission, a 25-member panel appointed by Spano to produce a year-long series of events celebrating Westchester's history and diversity.

A panel of four judges reviewed the entries. Judges on the panel were Hal Rosenbluth, CEO of Kaufman/Astoria Studios, Eric Perlman, film editor of Sprocket and Dubs Editorial Services; freelance sound technician Danny Michaels, an Academy Award Nominee for "Mississippi Burning" and member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; and Bob Curtis, founder and former executive director of 914 Salon and a member of the Westchester Chapter of the Association of Independent Filmmakers.

Films selected for the festival will be shown at the Clearview Cinema 100, Routes 100A & 100B, Greenburgh. Tickets are $5 for adults and $4 for children, students and seniors. For more information on the festival call Iris Stevens at the Westchester County Film Office 285-2917.