'Answer This,' 'Sleeping Bear' Win Big at Second Annual Michigan Film Awards

Just as they had been on the minds of everyone involved in the , Michigan's film incentives remained a topic of conversation at the second annual Michigan Film Awards, held Saturday night in partnership with the Detroit Independent Film Festival (DIFF).

But that didn't stop the night's honorees from laughing, whistling and cheering each other Saturday at the , expressing more camaraderie than competition as they faced off for awards in feature-length and short films.

The night's biggest winner was Answer This!, which tells the story of trivia whiz Paul Tarson, who may think he has all the answers but doesn't even know what he's going to do after grad school. Answer This! picked up seven awards in the feature-length film category, though no one from the film was present.

For short films, Sleeping Bear picked up three awards, including Best Experimental Film, Best Editing for director Jack Cronin and Best Michigan Short Film.

Amy Weber was the evening's biggest honoree, taking home the 2011 Best Michigan Independent Filmmaker award. According to DIFF's executive director Robert Butler, Weber's films consistently bring in the crowds and if anything, she deserves the award for her work co-writing and directing 2011's Annabelle and Bear, which was shown at the festival and nominated for several awards.

Meanwhile, Randall Emmett and Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson received Michigan Producer of the Year Awards for their work in Things Fall Apart, a film that made its premiere at the Uptown Film Festival and stars rapper 50 Cent as a college football star whose hopes are dashed when he gets cancer.

While 50 Cent wasn't at the festival due to a previous commitment, Emmett urged festivalgoers to fight Gov. Rick Snyder's plans to cap the Michigan film incentives at $25 million a year. "I hope everyone gets together and we fight to keep these incentives," Emmett said.

However, incentives or not, Emmett said what inspires him most about the Michigan film industry is the tenacity of its participants, from producers to directors to cast and crew.

"We are going to continue the fight until they don't let us fight anymore," he said.

The following a complete list of the night's awards. For more information on individual films, visit the Uptown Film Festival website.

Feature films

• Best Michigan Feature: Answer This! (produced by Mike Farah and Anna Wenger)
• Best Director: Christopher Farah (Answer This!)
• Best Actor: Christopher Gorham (Answer This!)
• Best Actress: Arielle Kebbel (Answer This!)
• Best Supporting Actor: Jason Waugh (Love is a Thieves Game)
• Best Supporting Actress: Grace Anne Rowan (Lucky)
• Best Screenplay: Christopher Farah (Answer This!)
• Best Cinematography: Christian Sprenger (Answer This!)
• Best Editing: Wendy Nomiyama (Answer This!)
• Best Original Score: Kevin DiKempe (Bilal's Stand)
• Best Documentary: Not As I Pictured It (directed by John Kaplan)

Short films

• Best Michigan Short Film: Sleeping Bear (produced by Jack Cronin)
• Best Director: Alexander Slain (The Lost and Found Shop)
• Best Actor: Mark Kelly (Bullies on Vacation)
• Best Actress: Rachel Clare Higgins (Playing House)
• Best Supporting Actor: Brian Vander Ark (Bullies on Vacation)
• Best Supporting Actress: Alana Jo Beckman (The Lost and Found Shop)
• Best Screenplay: Brian Vander Ark (Bullies on Vacation)
• Best Cinematography: Jacob Mendel (Zlata Rybka, The Goldfish)
• Best Original Score: David Bateman (World of Art)
• Best Editing: Jack Cronin (Sleeping Bear)
• Best Art Direction: Mike Allore and Jaime Peralta (World of Art)
• Best Experimental Film: Sleeping Bear (directed by Jack Cronin)
• Best Academic Film: Timeless (directed by Mike Buoy, University of Michigan)
• Best Documentary: Defying Deletion: The Fight Over Iraq's Ninevah Plains ()