'Doc Pomus' wins Stony Brook film prize
Jerome Felder as seen in the documentary "A.K.A. Doc Pomus," grand prize winner of the 2012 Stony Brook Film Festival. (July 28, 2012) Credit: Clear Lake Historical Production
The Stony Brook Film Festival grand prize was awarded Saturday night to "A.K.A. Doc Pomus," a documentary about Brooklyn-born Jerome Felder. After being paralyzed with polio as a child, Felder reinvented himself as blues singer Doc Pomus, who later penned such rock and roll classics as "A Teenager in Love" and "Viva Las Vegas."
A tie vote resulted in a shared jury prize for "Shuffle," written and directed by Kurt Kuenne, about a man who wakes up at a different age each morning, and "Taped," a Dutch film about a vacationing couple who inadvertently tape a murder.
The audience choice for best feature went to "Wunderkinder," the flashback story of a violinist's child-prodigy past when Nazis invaded Ukraine in 1941.
"Shoot the Moon," a foreclosure drama, won the jury prize for best short, while audience voters favored the Mexican short "Bordando la Frontera."
"Doc Pomus" was directed by William Hechter and Peter Miller. Awards were presented after the final festival screening, of a French film not in competition called "The Day I Saw Your Heart."
