San Diego International Kids’ Film Festival Made its 2017 edition Successful
9/13/2017 The last weekend of August has been the days for the San Diego International Kids Film Festival ( SDIKFF). The 2017 edition was completed by a beautiful, cheerful and powerful award ceremony in Howard Brubeck Theater at August 27. The extra long red carpet (more than double the length of the Cannes film festival red carpet) let the film makers, produces, writers, and actor actress having enough time to enjoy the honor after the film made in to the official selection of the SDIKFF.
The three days festival opened with a “Golf with Stars” friendship tournament in the Links at Summerly in Lake Elsinore. International film makers and local golfers in all ages made this tournament great fun. A number of golfers won different categories, including a trophy won by Hollywood director Jon Miguel. The film festival opening gala held right after the tournament in the club house. The local hosts (city councilman Steve Manos, golf club CEO Songjia Xia and film maker Larry Costales) welcomed the international film makers from 15 countries. Hollywood martial art star Erwant Chan and Model Tammie Starr were the master of ceremony for the gala. Canadian child actress sensation Capri Everitt singed the US national anthem to open the gala. She also sang all the other countries national anthems for those film makers who were at presence of the event. The local child dance team- Ballet Folklorico of Lake Elsinore present a fantastic dance at the gala.
The film festival filled with a number of exciting events, which included The Film Market; Panels Presentation and Discussion with Screenwriters; Pitch & Catch for Variety Film Opportunities; and Work with Chinese Film Makers and Investors. Each event was packed with enthusiastic attendees. Many business relationships and preliminary cooperation blue prints were established. The Distribution Panel held in the last day of the festival gathered the film makers together again to exchange the newest industry information. In that event, the award winning screenplay “52 HZ” attracted key investors. A preliminary agreement and cooperation confirmation were signed right after the award ceremony.
The red carpet award ceremony hosted by two teams, Hollywood team (Prince Jordan Tyson and Tammie Starr) and San Diego team (Davin Scott Higginbotham and Isabelle Hu). Award presenters were the festival juries (Jeri Jacquin；Robert Cox; Michael Matteo Rossi; Xander Bailey, etc); Movie stars (David Lockhart，Brian Connors, MiaoMiao (China)); TV hosts and models (Rachelle Casillas, Dr. Aditya Sharma); special guests (Seoul Guro Kids Film Festival Director Han-Ki Kim and World Film Institute President Antonio Gellini); etc. The attendees of the ceremony were entertained by the high quality entertainment performances from Kidz Danz Kompany；Kehulili O Kailani Halau; San Diego United Leo Club；Ballet Folklorico El Tapatio; Youth actors Elle Scord, and three Chinese actors (Junhao Liu, Xixiang Li, Yuzhe Qian).
The full list of the award for the 2017 San Diego International is as follows:
| Award | Winner | |
| Grand Jury Prize – Best Feature | 1st Semester (Philippines) | |
| Grand Jury Prize – Best Short | Pool Shark (USA) | |
| Special Jury Award | Tanguito Argentino (Argentina) | |
| Best Youth-made Film | What Single People Do (USA) | |
| Best Kids-made Film | Black Water (India) | |
| Best Animated Feature Film | Barkley (China | Taiwan) | |
| Best Animated Short Film | Jingliks (Russia) | |
| Best Kid Performance in Feature Film | Baby Jhanavi (Shaanu – The Optimist) | |
| Best Kid Performance in Short Film | Lilith Max (The Chocolate Soldier) | |
| Best Student Film | Kizuna (USA) | |
| Rising Star Award | Chenling Zhu (Fake Guardians) | |
| Young Performer Award | Zimo Zhu, Lu Xin, Yuze Qian, Junhao Liu, Sixiang Li | |
| Best Musical Film | August (USA) | |
| Best Family Feature Film | The Kids from 62-F (USA) | |
| Best Family Short Film | The Rogue One: A Star Wars Toy Story (USA) | |
| Best Documentary Feature | High School 9-1-1 (USA) | |
| Best Documentary Short | Geijyutsu Wa Mirai (USA) | |
| Best Drama Feature Film | Another Me in the World (China) | |
| Best Drama Short Film | The Boots (USA) | |
| Make A Difference Award Anthems | A Journey Around the World (Canada) | |
| Screenplay Contest – Feature Screenplay | The Fields of Yaru (USA) | |
| Screenplay Contest – Short Screenplay | Minnie Noir (USA) | |
| Screenplay Contest – Foreign Feature Screenplay | 52 Hertz (China) | |
| Screenplay Contest – Foreign Short Screenplay | Please Give Me True Love (China) |
