DoorPost 2009 Winners Announced – $100,000 First Prize

Inspiring film,"The Butterfly Circus" named this year’s winner..

After receiving thousands of online votes in addition to an evaluation by a panel of esteemed judges, the Doorpost Film Project announced this year’s winning films on Saturday, September 19 at Nashville’s Belcourt Theatre.  The grand prize was awarded to Joshua Weigel’s “The Butterfly Circus,” starring Eduardo Verástegui (“Bella”) and Nick Vujicic (“Life Without Limbs”), which takes place at the height of the Great Depression and tells the story of a charismatic ringleader in a circus providing hope for the hopeless.  Michael Regalbuto, a final round member in last year’s competition, and his brother Nick Regalbuto, landed second place and $35,000 for their film “La Premiere.”  Brent McCorkle, who appeared on the FOX reality show "On the Lot" and caught the eye of the show’s producer Steven Spielberg, rounds out the top three receiving $25,000 for his film “The Rift.”  Finally, this year’s “Filmmaker’s Choice Award” and $15,000 was presented to Greg Kwedar for “Guest Room.”

Hundreds of filmmakers were narrowed down to 10 finalists who were awarded a production budget of $30,000 to develop a new film, 20 minutes or less, based on the topic of hope.  In addition to the online votes, a committee of accomplished industry professionals including Ralph Winter ("X-men," "Fantastic Four"), Catherine Hardwick ("Twilight," "Lords of Dogtown"), Larry Lasker ("War Games," "Sneakers"), Fred Roos ("Godfather I, II, II," "Lost in Translation") and producer/producer’s rep Jeff “The Dude” Dowd (“Ferngully”/”Zebrahead”/”Better Luck Tomorrow”) helped determine this year’s winning films.

Plans are already in motion for the 2010 competition and entries will be accepted October 15, 2009 through January 31, 2010. The initial entry should be seven minutes or less in length and based on one of seven topics: authenticity, community, sacrifice, commitment, identity, truth or hope.  From there, 20 filmmakers will be chosen to submit a script for a 12 to 30 minute short film based on another one of the original seven topics.  Five of the filmmakers will be selected based on their stories for a mentor program with industry professionals and will produce their new short film with a commission of $40,000.  An independent panel of jurists will then award prize money based on merit to these five rising stars totaling $150,000.  Additionally, online voters will select their favorite film awarding $10,000 to the audience favorite. 

For more information on the 2009 winners and the 2010 competition, visit thedoorpost.com.