The Golden Space Needle Award winners were announced at a ceremony on Sunday. More than 60,000 ballots were cast by SIFF audiences to determine the winner in six categories: Best Film, Best Documentary, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Short Film. So, without further ado...

SIFF 2009 Golden Space Needle Audience Awards

Best Film Golden Space Needle Award

Black Dynamite, directed by Scott Sanders (USA, 2009)

First runner up: The Necessities of Life, directed by Benoît Pilon (Canada, 2008)
Second runner up: (500) Days of Summer, directed by Marc Webb (USA, 2009)
Third runners up (tie): ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction, directed Kevin Hamedani (USA, 2009) and Morris: A Life With Bells On, directed by Lucy Akhurst (United Kingdom, 2008)
Fourth runner up: North Face, directed by Philipp Stolzl (Austria, 2008)

Best Documentary Golden Space Needle Award

The Cove, directed by Louie Psihoyos (USA, 2009)

First runner up: Sweet Crude, directed by Sandy Cioffi (USA, 2008)
Second runner up: William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe, directed by Sarah Kunstler and Emily Kunstler (USA, 2009)
Third runner up: Every Little Step, directed by James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo (USA, 2008)
Fourth runners up (tie): Food, Inc., directed by Robert Kenner (USA, 2008) and Facing Ali, directed by Pete McCormack (Canada, 2009)

Best Director Golden Space Needle Award

Kathryn Bigelow, for The Hurt Locker (USA, 2008)

First runner up: Lynn Shelton, for Humpday (USA, 2009)
Second runner up: Kari Skogland for Fifty Dead Men Walking (UK/Canada, 2008)
Third runner up: Spike Lee for Passing Strange (USA, 2009)
Fourth runner up: Marc Webb for (500) Days of Summer (USA, 2009)

Best Actor Golden Space Needle Award

Sam Rockwell for Moon (United Kingdom, 2009)

First runner up: Jim Sturgess for Fifty Dead Men Walking (United Kingdom, 2008)
Second runner up: Natar Ungalaaq for The Necessities of Life (Canada, 2008)
Third runner up: Mark Duplass for Humpday (USA, 2009)
Fourth runner up: Toni Servillo for Il Divo (Italy, 2008)

Best Actress Golden Space Needle Award

Yolande Moreau for Séraphine (France/Belgium, 2008)

First runner up: Catalina Saavedra for The Maid (Chile, 2008)
Second runner up: Trine Dyrholm, for Little Soldier (Denmark, 2009)
Third runner up: Nathalie Press for Fifty Dead Men Walking (UK/Canada, 2008)
Fourth runner up: Iben Hjejle for The Escape (Denmark, 2009)

Best Short Film Golden Space Needle Award

Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death, directed by Nick Park, (UK)

First runner up: Treevenge, directed by Jason Eisener (Canada)
Second runner up: Full Employment, directed by Thomas Oberlies and Matthias Vogel (Germany)
Third runner up: French Roast, directed by Fabrice O. Joubert (France)
Fourth runner up: Make My Day, directed by Pelle Møller (Denmark)

Lena Sharpe Award for Persistence of Vision, Presented by Women in Film/Seattle

Sweet Crude, directed by Sandy Cioffi (USA, 2008)

2009 Fool Serious Awards

The always-fun second-opinion Fool Serious Awards are voted on by a dedicated group of full passholders, who see a LOT of movies, therefore have a LOT of opinions on said movies. Here's what they thought...

Most Liked

1. Departures
2. North Face
3. Tears of April
4. Séraphine
5. Necessities of Life
6. The Hurt Locker
7. That Evening Sun
8. Troubled Water
9. Moon
10. Kabei - Our Mother

Top Archival

1. Sunset Boulevard
2. Once Upon a Time in the West
3. The Third Man
4. Dodsworth

Top Documentaries

1. Burma VJ - Reporting from a Closed Country
2. Every Little Step
3. The Beaches of Agnès
4. Sweet Crude

The Special Category Award Winners

Best Director - Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker
Best Script - a tie between Lynn Shelton for Humpday and Kundo Koyama for Departures
Best Cinematographer - Kolja Brandt for North Face
Best Music - Tetro (by Osvaldo Golijov)
Best Actor - Natar Ungalaaq for Necessities of Life
Best Actress - Yolande Moreau for Séraphine
Best Guilty Pleasure - a tie between ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction and Black Dynamite

SIFF 2009