With a live, oversized image of her face looking down on her from the screen at the Viewpoint Theatre, Melissa Leo, top, accepts the Time Warner Cable-Geraldine Page Award for Best Actress in a Feature Film. Other award winners in the 2008 Festival included Tom Hines (winner of the Valley of the Stars Festival Director's Award for Excellence for Chronic Town) and the cast of Chain Link, winner of the Christie Digital Audience Award for Feature Films. (Photos Tom Coat/Phil Berkner)

Calabasas, Calif., April 3, 2008 - Melissa Leo won the Time Warner Cable Geraldine Page Award for Best Actress for her performance in Lullaby, and Richard Jenkins took home the Charter Communications John Garfield Award for Best Actor for his role in The Visitor, as the 10th annual The Method Fest independent film festival announced its winners at the Awards Ceremony at Viewpoint School 's Carlson Family Theatre in Calabasas.

“The performances this year in film at the festival exceeded anything we had seen before at The Method Fest. The overall quality of the films was also higher and some awards were almost impossible for the judges to determine," Don Franken, the festival's executive director, said. “More top quality films with breakout performances as well as career-defining performances by other actors made it the fiercest competition yet for awards. There are so many emerging new stars this year at The Method Fest and this really brought more energy and excitement at the festival".

The City of Calabasas Jury Award for Best Picture was presented to Unfinished Sky, directed by Peter Duncan and starring William McInnes, Monic Hendrickx, Milo, Bille Brown, Christopher Sommers, and David Field.

The Christie Digital Audience Award for Best Picture was presented to Chain Link, directed by Dylan Reynolds.

The LA.com Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Feature Film went to Danai Gurira, (The Visitor), and the Stockholm Krystal Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Feature Film went to John Saxon, (God's Ears).

Tom McCarthy, who directed The Visitor, was awarded the Modern VideoFilm Award for Best Director of a Feature Film.

The Daily News Award for Best Screenplay went to Rick Bieber, for Crazy. Bieber also directed and produced the film.

The Prudential California Realty Award for Best Ensemble Cast was presented to the cast of Familiar Strangers, directed by Zachary Adler, written by John Bell, and starring Shawn Hatosy, DJ Qualls, Cameron Richardson, Ann Dowd, Nikki Reed, and Tom Bower.

Special Recognition: Eduart. Greece, directed by Angeliki Antoniou.

The Corona Maverick Award for High Quality in Low Budget Filmmaking went to Harrison Montgomery, directed by Daniel Dávila.

Other winners included:

The jetBlue Airways Award for Best Short – Indecent (directed by Matt Cavanaugh).

The Enterprise Rent-A-Car Award for Best Foreign Film – Corpo (Body), Brazil, directed by Rubens Rewald and Rosanna Foglia, produced by Rubens Rewald.

Special Recognition: This Beautiful City, directed by Ed Gass-Donnelly

The Viewpoint School Award for Best Actor in a Short – Colin Cunningham, (Centigrade).

The Motion Picture and Television Fund Award for Best Actress in a Short – Vanessa Born, (Sky).

The Bernards Award for Best Student Short – A Day's Work, directed by Rajeev Dassani from the University of Southern California.

 The Country Inn & Suites by Carlson Audience Award for Best Short Film – Psycho Hillbilly Cabin Massacre! (directed by Robert Cosnahan).

2008 Method Fest Award winners, from left: Rubens Rewald and Rosanna Foglia for Corpo (Enterprise Rent-A-Car Award for Best Foreign Film), Harrison Montgomery (Corona Award - Maverick Award for Quality in a Low-Budget Film) and Rick Bieber (Los Angeles Daily News Award - Best Screenplay - for Crazy). See more awards photos in Awards Photo Gallery.

Special Recognition Awards

The Valley of the Stars Festival Director's Award for Excellence – Chronic Town (directed by Tom Hines).

The Barefoot Winery Festival Director's Award for Breakthrough Acting – Octavio Gomez Berrios (Harrison Montgomery).

The Award for the Best Ensemble Cast in a Short Film – Last Day of Limbo starring Ian Abercrombie, Roby Bessent, Johnny Holiday, Matt Malloy, Patrick Thomas O'Brien, Mark Pellegrino, Joseph Rigano, Rico Simonini, and Vinny Vella.

Special Awards presented before and during the festival:

Career Achievement Award: Richard Jenkins

Maverick Award: Melissa Leo

Future Filmmaker Audience Awards

Sony Future Filmmakers Award for Best Picture – Michael Fishbein for Chope.

Final Draft Future Filmmakers Award for Best Screenplay – Mike Toomy and Kevin Murphy for Chope.

 Indieprinting.com Future Filmmakers Award for Best Acting – Aaron Moody for Chope.

Special Recognition: Winter's Hero, by Alexi Scuitto

About The Method Fest

Named after a famous school of acting, The Method Fest is the only major film festival in the U.S. focusing on acting, celebrating breakout acting performances in story driven independent films. The Method Fest takes great pride in being a discovery festival, looking to help launch the works of young fresh filmmakers and to discover breakthrough performances by young, bold new actors. The festival has also taken great delight in sharing career-defining performances of established performers and in showcasing a few chosen well-known directors to screen at the festival. The 10th Anniversary of the Method Fest screened 25 feature films and 52 shorts from U.S. and international filmmakers from March 27 – April 3.