Award Recipients as diverse and eclectic as the films themselves as the tenth annual Fairy Tales International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival wraps as the most successful festival on record.

LOS ANGELES (June 06, 2008) - CALGARY- Giddy, terrifying, silly and sombre were just some of the dizzying array of emotions and themes during the ten days of exhibiting 65 films from 18 different countries at the Fairy Tales International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival in Calgary, Alberta Canada. The audience (the highest rated attendance in the festival's history) was given their opportunity to voice their opinions by rating each short and feature-length film out of 5 and then the results were weighted by the number of people in attendance at each screening for the Courtney Sebree Aarbo Audience Awards. A panel of industry professionals from the Calgary area included film and television producers Michelle Wong and Sandi Somers, Quickdraw Animation Society Coordinator Keith Murray and professional organizer and consultant for the arts, Kevin Allen, judged films from the 2007/2008 years for consideration for the Riley-Metzger Jury Awards top prizes and also collaborated on honourable mentions for films and filmmakers who made their own unique impressions upon the community.

Edmonton Filmmaker Trevor Anderson's comedy DINX was the recipient of the Audience Award for Best Short and Vancouver filmmaker Gwen Haworth was the recipient of both the Audience and Jury Awards for Best Documentary for her intimate documentation of her journey from biological male to female in She's A Boy I Knew. Canadian filmmakers Laurie Colbert and Dominique Cardona also received double honours from the audience and jury, their feature-length family drama Finn's Girl was given the nod from the audience for Best Feature Film and the jury awarded it Best Canadian Feature Film. Claudia Morgado Escanilla's excellent short No Bikini continues its award-winning streak by picking up the jury award for Best Canadian Short and Toronto filmmaker Loree Erikson received a special Queer Voice Award for her video diary Want which addresses the issue of public perceptions of persons with disabilities as sexual beings. Spanish actress Concha Velasco won the award for Outstanding Female Performance for her comedic portrayal of the mother-in-law from hell in Juan Flahn's Boystown (Chuecatown) and in surprise twist; actress Michelle Ehlen won the Outstanding Male Performance for her gender-bending role in the comedy Butch Jamie.

COURTNEY SEBREE AARBO AUDIENCE AWARD WINNERS
Best Short Film
DINX directed by Trevor Anderson (CANADA)
Best Documentary Feature/Short
SHE'S A BOY I KNEW directed by Gwen Haworth (CANADA)
Best Feature-Length Narrative Film
FINN'S GIRL directed by Laurie Colbert & Dominique Cardona (CANADA)

RILEY-METZGER JURY AWARDS
Best Short Film (Documentary/Narrative)
LE WEEKEND directed by Timothy Smith (CANADA)
Best Feature Film (Narrative)
THE CURIOSITY OF CHANCE directed by Russell P. Marleau (BELGIUM/USA)
Best Documentary Film (Short/Feature)
SHE'S A BOY I KNEW directed by Gwen Haworth (CANADA)
Outstanding Performance (Female)
CONCHA VELASCO for her portrayal of the shrewish mother in BOYSTOWN (CHUECATOWN) (SPAIN)
Outstanding Perfomance (Male)
MICHELLE EHLEN for her gender-bending role in BUTCH JAMIE (USA)

RILEY-METZGER HONOURABLE MENTIONS:
QUEER VOICE AWARD
LOREE ERIKSON (Want) (CANADA)
POETIC IMAGERY AWARD
PAUL SIXTA (Body Image) (NETHERLANDS)
BEST CANADIAN FEATURE
FINN'S GIRL (Laurie Colbert & Dominique Cardona) (CANADA)
BEST CANADIAN SHORT
NO BIKINI (Claudian Morgado Escanilla) (CANADA)
BEST SUPER-AWESOME-UBER-WHACK-MEGA-GAYLORD-MAGIC-SURPRISE FILM
Zsa Zsa Zaturrnah Ze Moveeh directed by Joel Lamangan (PHILIPPINES)

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