At the NIFF awards ceremony last Sunday night, two films with strong Knoxville ties earned honors.

"Under Hellgate Bridge," a feature starring Knoxville native Jordan Bayne, won the Regal Cinemas/Nashville Independent Film Festival Dreammaker Award. Regal, which hosts tne festival at its Green Hills theater, makes the NIFF top prize one of the most enviable on the U.S. festival circuit.

The Dreammaker Award gives the winning film a one-week engagement at a Regal theater in Los Angeles County, which means the movie will be eligible for Academy Award consideration. "Under Hellgate Bridge" director Michael Sergio and producer Isil Bagdadi visited Knoxville this past week to talk to Regal officials about scheduling their film in other Regal theaters around the country.