Stallone & Baldwin Take Honors at the 20th Annual Beverly Hills Film Festival
The 20th Annual Beverly Hills Film Festival (BHFF) announced the winners from this year’s Official Selections. They include a wonderful mix of Hollywood’s royalty combined with individuals making their dramatic mark on the industry. The festivities surrounding this prestigious weeklong event, originally scheduled for April, had to be cancelled due to the worldwide pandemic. Yet, BHFF Founder & CEO, Nino Simone, offered some consolation to those who put in so much work saying “While it has saddened us all, canceling was the only option in light of the health and safety of our filmmakers and thousands of attendees coming first. However, we must celebrate and focus on the wonderful achievement and creativity of this year’s amazing group of winners.” The winners were selected and announced by the BHFF Jury, who was headed by its President and award-winning producer, Frederico Lapenda. He was quoted as saying “Since a young age I have been fully aware that the ultimate question a man must answer by the end of his life, did I accept what my Father passed down to me and improve upon it.” With this humbly in mind, especially because this is the 20th anniversary of the BHFF, I sincerely hope this distinguished festival is of the highest caliber yet. Our decisions were extremely challenging and I am very proud of all of our finalists and winners!” 8 • HOLLYWOOD MONTHLY
LIST OF AWARDS: Director Cam Cowan’s “Opeka” is the recipient of the festival’s highest honor, the 'Golden Palm'. This documentary chronicles the journey of Argentine soccer player turned priest, Pedro Opeka, who over more than 30 years builds a city on a landfill in Madagascar to bring its poverty-stricken residents both dignity and hope. Two time winning director Derek Wayne Johnson nabs Best Documentary for “Stallone, Frank That Is”. The film highlights the life, career and survival of Frank Stallone and features interviews with Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Billy Zane, Geraldo Rivera, Nick Vallelonga and Joe Mantegna, among others. The director also wins Best Short Documentary with his film, “40 Years of Rocky" narrated by Sylvester Stallone. Best Actor honors go to William Baldwin for his role in the festival circuit hit, “Talk,” a thriller from Romuald Boulanger about a late night radio host. Best Director goes to Sarah Lancaster for “Josie & Jack,” while Best Actress recipient is Olivia DeJonge, also for “Josie & Jack.” DeJonge will next be starring as Priscilla Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s as yet untitled Elvis Presley Project.
