“Hot Coffee” is Seattle’s favorite

June 13, 2011 by Adam Benzine

Hot Coffee

Susan Saladoff’s upcoming HBO doc Hot Coffee (pictured) has won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), ahead of its premiere on the network on June 27.

Elsewhere at the festival’s awards, high school poetry slam documentary To Be Heard and Mark Hall’s fishing industry exposé Sushi: The Global Catch both picked up special jury prizes.

To Be Heard, which is directed by Roland Legiardi-Laura, Amy Sultan, Deborah Shaffer and Edwin Martinez, also picked up the Best Documentary Golden Space Needle Award at the festival.

The Golden Space Needle doc category had four honorable mentions – first runner-up was Constance Marks’ Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey; second runner-up was Cindy Meehl’s Buck; third runner-up was Peter D. Richardson’s How to Die in Oregon; and Hot Coffee was named fourth runner-up.

Elsewhere, the Lena Sharpe Award for Persistence of Vision, presented by Women in Film/Seattle, was given to Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey. The award is presented to the female director whose film receives the highest number of audience ballots.

Finally, the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary Short went to Library of Dust, which is directed by Ondi Timoner and Robert James.

“I’m gratified that Seattle audiences continue to embrace the festival’s wide-ranging selection of films from around the world, proving that Seattle filmgoers see more films per capita than any other city in the nation,” said SIFF artistic director Carl Spence in a statement.

“For the second year in a row, we have surpassed US$1 million in ticket sales, making this another record-setting year.”

Tags: Hot Coffee, Seattle International Film Festival, Sushi: The Global Catch, To Be Heard