AFI Fest Winners

The American Film Institute concluded it's annual film festival in Hollywood, opening with the world premiere of Hitchcock and closing with the official premiere of Steven Spielberg's Lincoln (which had its real premiere as a secret screening at the New York Film Festival.) AFI Fest serves in a unique spot, as it comes towards the end of the year, which limits the amount of world premieres it can hold, but stands as a boost for exposure for would-be Oscar players like Life of Pi (which opened at NYFF), The Silver Linings Playbook (which won the Audience Award at Toronto), The Impossible (TFFF), Quartet (Dustin Hoffman's directorial debut starring Maggie Smith) and Rust & Bone (a longshot Best Actress contender for Marion Cotillard which premiered at Cannes) and also serves as a place for key foreign language candidates to see a profile boost.  Included Cannes winners Amour and Holy Motors and official selections like A Royal Affair, Witch Hunt and Caesar Must Die.  Here are the AFI Jury winners:

GRAND JURY PRIZE (NEW AUTEURS)
Eat Sleep Die- Gabrielle Pichler

GRAND JURY PRIZE (SHORT FILMS)
Live Action Short- Introducing: Bobby- Roger Hayn
Animated Short- Oh Willy- Emma de Swaef & Marc Roels

The Academy recognizes a screening at AFI as qualifiers for Academy Awards.

AUDIENCE AWARDS
World Cinema- A Royal Affair- Nikolaj Arcel (Denmark's official selection)-- opens in limited release this weekend and should make a strong showing due to its accredited 2012 festival buzz.

New Auteurs- A Highjacking- Tobias Lindholm (Denmark)
Young Americans- Only the Young- Jasper Tippet & Elizabeth Mims (USA)
Breakthrough- Nairobi Half Life- David Tosh Gitonga (Kenya\Germany)