Big Water Film Festival - Bay Theater - Ashland - Wisconsin

14th Annual Festival for 2021 Will Be Free and Online
See our News section below for more information

Award Winners in Previous Years

2019

Best Feature. Love Them First. Lindsey Seavert and Ben Garvin.

Audience Favorite Award. Love Them First. Lindsey Seavert and Ben Garvin.

Best Documentary. From Seed to Seed. Katharina Steiffenhofer.

Best Short. Wanted: Strong Woman. Marilyn Cooke.

Best Short-Short. Fairy Tail. Justin and Kristin Schaack.

Loren Savitsky Young Filmmaker Award. Ouroboros. Emma Keehan.

Honorable Mention. Fraser Syndrome and Me. Kyle Anne Grendys.

2018

Best Feature. Manry at Sea~In the Wake of a Dream.  Steve Wystrach.

Audience Favorite Award. Risking Light. Dawn Mikkleson.

Best Documentary. Beneath the Ink. Cy Dodson.

Best Short. Radio Moon. Pierre Gaffie’.
 
Best Short-Short. Rag Dolls. Justin and Kristin Schaack.
 
Loren Savitsky Young Filmmakers Award. Last Meal. Austin Simmons.
 
Honorable Mention. Hoan Alone:  Personal Stories from the Bridge. Aaron Johnson.
 
2017

Best Feature. Saving Brinton. Tommy Haines and Andrew Sherburne.

Audience Favorite Award. Waabooz. Molly Katagiri.

Best Feature.  Saving Brinton.  Tommy Haines and Andrew Sherburne.

Best Documentary. The Ragman: A Hobo’s Story Untold. Cy Dosson.

Best Short. Behold, Such Clown. Jacob Pilgaard.
 
Best Short-Short. Light Sight. Seyed Tabatabaei.
 

Loren Savitsky Young Filmmakers Award. fifteen. Kara Hakanson.

Honorable Mention. Unleavened Bread. Wilfried Meance.
           and, for a decade of service to BWFF, the

Doyenne of Documentaries Award. Melody Gilbert.

2016

Audience Favorite.  I Had a Bloody Good Time at House Harker.  Clayton Cogswell

Best Feature.  The Great Alone.  Greg Kohs

Best Documentary.  Ghost Town to Havana.  Eugene Corr

Best Short.  Mousse.  John Hellberg

Best Short-Short.  Fish.  Saman Hosseinpuor

Loren Savitsky Young Filmmakers Award.  Smoke that Travels.  Kayla Briet.

Honorable Mention.  Women Outward Bound.   Maxine Davis

 

2015

Audience Favorite.  Appleton.  Jimmy Costa

Best Feature.  The Public Domain.  Patrick Coyle

Best Documentary.  Old Fashioned.  Holly De Ruyter

Best Short.  Counting Wolves.  George Desort

Best Short-Short.  Isola del Giglio.  Tom Schroeder

Loren Savitsky Young Filmmakers Award.  Nobody.  William Bryan.

Honorable Mention.  Taking Alcatraz.  John Ferry

2014

Audience Favorite.  American Heart.   Chris Newberry.

Best Feature.  Wicker Kittens.  Amy C. Elliott and Mike Scholtz.

Best Documentary.  The Starfish Throwers.  Jesse Roesler.

Best Short.  Contorsion.  Ingrid Chikhaoui.

Best Short Short.  Ice Dream:  Protect our Water.  David Doering.

Young Filmmaker.  Deliver Us from Evil.  Robert McDermott.

Honorable Mention- Feature.  Fragmented.  Douglas Elford-Argent.

2013

Best Feature: Awful Nice, Todd Skylar and Brock Williams.

Best Documentary: Gold Fever, JT Haines, Tommy Haines and Andrew Sherburne.

Best Short Film: World Fair, Amanda Murray.

Best Short Short: Woman Who Hates Plants, Morgan Miller.

Audience Favorite: Battle for the Elephants, J.J. Kelley.

Loren Savitsky Young Filmmaker Award: Protect Our Future, Jordan Principato, Ahpahnae Thomas and Shania Jackson.

Honorable Mention (Feature): The Guide, John Meyers.

2012

Audience Favorite: Go Ganges!, J.J. Kelly and Josh Thomas.

Best Feature: Somewhere West, David Marek.

Best Documentary: Smokin’ Fish, Cory Mann and Luke Griswold-Tergis.

Best Short: Prisoner of Her Past, Howard Reich and Gordon Quinn.

Best Short-Short: Bounce, John Akre.

Loren Savitsky Young Filmmaker Award: Lazarus, Nicholas Giombi.

Honorable Mention (Documentary): Wild Bill’s Run, Mike Scholtz.

2011

Best Short Film: Bike Race, Tom Schroeder.

Best Short-Short Film: Girl of My Dreams, Doug White.

Best Documentary: Just Like Us, Ahmed Ahmed.

Best Feature: Rough Tender, Joe Dressel.

Loren Savitsky Young Filmmaker Award: Ink Jet, Tom Radovich.

Audience Favorite: Truck Farm, Ian Cheney.

Honorable Mention (Short): The Letter, Steve Date.

2010

Best Short: Breakfast, Liang Jyan Wang.

Best Short-Short: Frozen Clothesline, Tony Woiak.

Best Documentary: Paddle to Seattle, J.J. Kelly and Josh Thomas.

Best Feature: Into Temptation, Patrick Coyle.

Loren Savitsky Young Filmmaker Award: Marble Rye, Max Rosen.

Audience Favorite: Into Temptation, Patrick Coyle.

2009

Best Short: Chronicles by the Other, Sophie Farkas Bolla.

Best Short-Short: Pete’s Palace, Amanda Becker.

Best Documentary: Women in Horse Racing: The Bettye Gabriel Story, Margaret Orlando, Rosemary Orlando, and Colleen Musker.

Best Feature: The Other Side of Paradise, Justin Hilliard.

Loren Savitsky Young Filmmaker Award: Portrait of an Artist, Jake Ryan and Leo Joseph Marks.

Audience Favorite: Come and Get Your Love, Rhonda Rana.

2008

Best Short: Just One of the Gynos, Brandon Olive annd Alex Ranalvelo.

Best Documentary: Sitting Bull: A Stone in My Heart, John Ferry.

Best Feature: Woodpecker, Alex Karpovsky.

Audience Favorite: Mr. Positive, Mike Hazard and Emily Rumsey.

News

2021 On-line Festival.

COVID has forced us to change our plans again.  Last year we cancelled the Festival altogether; this year we are not letting that happen, but we will be doing things differently.

The Big Water Committee is reviewing all of the films submitted for both the 2020 and 2021 Festivals (that’s a lot of films), and will be making Festival selections, just like always.  Starting in late Fall and going through mid-Winter, we will then post links on Facebook to our BWFF Films of the Week.  We’ll include blurbs about the films and, where available, still photos and trailers for them, so that you can decide what you’d like to watch.

We promise:  we’ll have the same great selection of films as we’ve always had.  And keep in mind that filmmakers have had the same year and a half of isolation that the rest of us have had and would love to have people see the work that they spent so much time and money and heart on.

All you need to do to watch the films is click on the link.  The Festival will be totally free this year, and you can even attend in your pajamas.

Make sure you have “liked” us or are following us on Facebook in order to get notifications of our weekly postings.

Later in the year we’ll announce the winners in all of our film categories, except for Audience Favorite.  With this year’s format, we can’t easily implement a fair way to count your votes.

We really do hope that in 2022 we will all be able to gather again with friends to watch films and meet the filmmakers who made them, but until then we hope you enjoy this year’s films.

 

2019 Awards:  The 12th Big Water Film Festival is in the books!  Thanks to everyone (filmmakers, volunteers, sponsors, and audience members) who made it happen.  Here are this year’s award winners:
Best Feature and Audience Favorite: Love Them First, Lindsey Seavert and Ben Garvin
Best Documentary: From Seed to Seed, Katharina Steiffenhofer
Best Short: Wanted:Strong Woman, Marilyn Cooke
Best Short-Short: Fairy Tail, Justin and Kristin Schaack
Loren Savitsky Young Filmmaker Award: , Ouroboros, Emma Keehan
Honorable Mention: Fraser Syndrome and Me, Kyle Anne Grendys
Congratulations!
Check out our new ticket sales page.  We’ve made purchasing tickets online very easy, and you can now purchase tickets online for all sites.
Special thanks to the Ashland Foundation for funding the purchase of a spotlight for our use at the Bay Theater.  Filmmakers will no longer have to answer questions in the dark!
The schedule is up!
Our 2019 Schedule is posted! Our film descriptions are also posted.
New venues!
Our Bayfield showings are moving from the Bayfield Carnegie Library to the more spacious environs of the Bayfield High School Library.  We hope this will give our audience more room to enjoy the films.  Thanks to Blair and the City Library for their support these past years, and thanks to the Bayfield School District for welcoming us to their campus.
And remember that as of last year we are having screenings again in Washburn, at the Harbor View Event Center.  Special thanks to our Washburn sponsors who are helping to make this happen:  Ron’s Repair and Towing, Washburn Family Dentistry, and Olson Building Supplies.

 

Follow us on Facebook to receive other updates.

Thank You to Our Sponsors:

Thank you to our Reception sponsors!  Ashland Baking Company, Benoit Cheese Haus, Chequamegon Food Coop, CoCo Artisan Breads and Good Eats, DaLou’s Bistro, Deep Water Grille , Hugo‘s Pizza, Maggie’s, North Coast Coffee, Pizza Pub, and The Snug.  

Thanks to our Festival sponsors for your support!

Director


Ashland Area Chamber of Commerce
1716 West Lake Shore Drive
Ashland WI 54806
715.682.2500
www.visitashland.com

Cinematographer


Wild Rivers Chapter of Trout Unlimited
604 Riverside Dr
Hurley, Wisconsin 54534
(715) 561-3098

Special Effects


Fiorio Wealth Advisors
317 West Main Street/ PO Box 844
Ashland, WI 54806
715-682-8439
www.fioriowealthadvisors.com

Special Effects


Choice Title LLC
320 West Main Street
Ashland, WI 54806
715.682.3333

Special Effects


Lange Creative Services
Catherine Lange
Ashland, Wisconsin
708.275.8868
www.langecomm.com

Director

SECURA/AIS Insurance Services
PO Box 498
Ashland, WI 54806
715-682-6197

Cinematographer


Stone's Throw
40 South 2nd Street
Bayfield, WI
715.779.5200
www.stonesthrowbayfield.com

Special Effects


Northern State Bank
321 Main Street West
Ashland, WI 54806
715.682.2772
www.nsbashland.com

Special Effects


Olson Building Materials
19 W Bayfield St
Washburn, WI 54891
(715) 373-2686

Director


Anonymous

Cinematographer


Anthony Jennings & Crew Real Estate
106 Main St W
Ashland WI 54806
715.209.6841
http://www.aijennings.com

Special Effects


BMO Harris Bank
100 Main Street East
Ashland WI 54806
715.682.3422
www.bmoharris.com

Special Effects


Associated Bank
221 4th Avenue West
Ashland WI 54806
715.682.9371
www.associatedbank.com

Special Effects


Solstice Outdoors
2521 West Lake Shore Drive
Ashland, Wisconsin 54806
715.682.3590
http://www.solsticeoutdoorstore.com

Cinematographer


Harbor View Event Center
130 Harbor View Dr
Washburn, WI 54891
715-373-5674
www.harborviewwashburn.com

Special Effects


Ron's Repair and Towing
77655 State Highway 13
Washburn, WI 54891
715.373.2030
 

Special Effects

Washburn Family Dentistry
16 E Bayfield St
Washburn, WI 54891
715-372-4860
http://www.washburndentistry.com

Special Effects

Haukaas Law Office
Superior Representation
200 Chapple Ave
Ashland, WI 54806
715-685-1001
http://www.haukaaslaw.com