VISIONFEST12 WRAPS
ANNUAL EDITION WITH A BALANCED SHARE OF
HONORED WORKS AT ITS
INDEPENDENT VISION AWARD (IVA) CEREMONY
SHEENA McCANN CROWNED
WITH DOMANI VISION AWARD 2012!
New
York, NY (June 25, 2012) – VF12: The Other Festival wrapped its 5-day
run last night with the 2012 Independent Vision Awards (IVA) Ceremony
and the World Premiere of its exclusive filmmaking initiative, the 5x5 New
York State of Mind Digital Project.
VF12 co-director, Bruno Derlin, kicked things off with a musical twist,
literally breaking into song with an ode to Billy Crystal’s “It’s a wonderful
night for Oscar” and replacing the award name with IVAs. He followed the zany introduction by handing
out the first set of awards, which saw three writers from the Visionfest
Feature Screenwriting Competition recognized, as follows: Third place
recipient, Austen Brauker for HOMUNCULUS; in second place, Thomas
Pace, for his screenplay, THE HIGH MESA COLONY; and the winner of
the 2012 Feature Screenwriting Competition, Giles Daoust for FOUNDING
FATHERS. Second place winner,
Thomas Pace, was on hand to accept his award, humorously threatening to walk
off with one of the acrylic statuettes intended for the film honorees.
The
evening was fueled by the generous energy of the the crowd, which was at
capacity in Tribeca Cinemas Theater 2, and often broke into slightly rowdy but
respectful applause and cheers as each IVA recipient was called to the
stage. Unlike recent years, there was
not a single film sweep, with many of the nominated projects taking home a
nicely balanced share of the honors.
Filmmaker
Sheena McCann was crowned with the festival’s top honor, the Domani
Vision Award for Emerging Talent, for her short subject narrative, THE
DARKNESS IS CLOSE BEHIND, which also took home a statuette as the year’s
Best Short. McCann’s Domani Vision
Award win marked the first time since 2002 that a short subject filmmaker was
honored with the Domani Vision Film Society special prize.
Directing
honors were bestowed upon Richard Bosner, whose narrative feature, FALLING
UPHILL, also won the Jack Nance Breakthrough Performance Award for its
female lead, Jessiqa Pace.
Bosner took to the stage to accept both awards, graciously thanking
everyone at the festival for his award and defining Ms. Pace as “a truly
special and talented actress.”
Scott
Schaeffer’s
narrative short subject, THE CARRIER, was cited for Outstanding
Achievement in Production, with Schaeffer going up to accept the award on
behalf of the film’s team of producers, Anna Ramey, Chris Wilson,
and Mark Hartzell.
VF12
Opening Night feature, BROADWAY’S FINEST, by Stephen Marro,
landed wins in two categories: Writing (Stephen Marro) and the Abe Schrager
Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography (Adrian Correia) –
the latter award sponsored by the American Society of Cinematographers. Mr. Marro joked about his poor spelling
skills as he accepted his award, adding that “that’s exactly what makes this
award extra special.” Adrian Correia
humbly embraced his statuette, stating: “I didn’t personally know Abe
(Schrager), but I hope to be able to honor his memory with this award. Thank
you.”
Ali
Scher’s THE
MAIDEN AND THE PRINCESS was singled out in Acting for its male lead, David
Anders, and for Short Form Screenwriting (Ali Scher & Joe Swanson);
the latter prize marking the only “tie” result in this year’s IVA winners’
list, with WEB OF LIES scribe, Kathryn Gould, taking home a
Certificate of Award for her work.
Female
Acting Lead honors were assigned to Nicki Micheaux for her work in NARCOCORRIDO,
a Student Academy Award winner, directed by Ryan Prows. The short was also cited for its Sound
Design with a Certificate of Award for Brett Hinton.
A
Special Jury Prize for Technical and Artistic Achievement was issued to Harvey
Hubbell V for his documentary, DISLECKSIA: THE MOVIE, which enjoyed
a standing room only screening at VF12 and was defined as “a genuine crowd
pleaser” by countless attendees.
Outstanding
Achievement in Documentary Filmmaking was bestowed upon Grant Hamilton
for his epic feature doc, TIME ZERO: THE LAST YEAR OF POLAROID FILM. Mr. Hamilton took to the stage to accept his
award, giving a warm and loving ‘shout out’ to his executive producer and wife,
Sara Hamilton. He returned to
his seat and celebrated his triumphant moment with Ms. Hamilton by ‘sealing it
with a kiss’ in what was probably the evening’s warmest “Polaroid moment.”
The
Editing Award winner was the feature film, IN MONTAUK, by Kim
Cummings. Ms. Cummings accepted the
award with an emotionally charged acceptance speech, assigning the larger part
of the credit to Eleanor Burke, who, as stated by Ms. Cummings,
ultimately took the film from rough to finished form.
Original
Score & Music honors went to Rob Kleiner for Steve Bladerson’s
CULTURE SHOCK. Kleiner, who was nominated this year for the third
consecutive year, had previously won the award with his music score for STUCK! at VF10 and was a runner-up
last year with THE CASSEROLE CLUB.
Rounding
out all of the award winners were: Visual Comforts (aka Michael
Wiehart) for the Production Design on RE:LEASE and Alexander Yan
with the Domani Visionary 2012 Award for his short, ELKO; and a Special
Jury Prize for Artistic/Technical Achievement for Brendan Gabriel Murphy
for his short, experimental film, PERCEPTIO.
The
audience responded with sustained applause to the unveiling of the 2012 5x5 New
York State of Mind Digital Project, and the Project’s producer, Nyle Cavazos
Garcia, thanked all the writers and directors of the five digital shorts
(Jon Carlos Evans, Roald Graves, Geoff Lerer, Bryan Norton, and Jef Taylor;
working from scripts written by Nicholas Begnaud, Randy Brown, Alexander
Jorgensen, and Jackson Wade), inviting the audience to meet and greet with them
at the VF12 after-party, which was held in the Tribeca Cinemas’ Varick Room
Lounge.
Following
is the complete list of IVA winners:
Domani Vision Award for Emerging Talent - Sheena McCann (The Darkness is Close Behind)
Outstanding Achievement in Production - The Carrier (Anna Ramey, Chris Wilson, Mark Hartzell)
Directing - Richard Bosner (Falling Uphill)
Writing - Stephen Marro (Broadway's Finest)
Short Subject Narrative - The Darkness is Close Behind
The Jack Nance Breakthrough Performance Award - Jessiqa Pace (Falling Uphill)
Acting
(Male Lead) - David
Anders (The Maiden and the Princess)
Acting
(Female Lead) - Nicki
Micheaux (Narcocorrido)
Special Jury Prize – Technical/Artistic Achievement Statuette - Harvey Hubbell V (Dislecksia: The Movie)
The Abe Schrager Award for Cinematography - Adrian Correia (Broadway's Finest)
Outstanding Achievement in Documentary Filmmaking - Time Zero: The Last Year of Polaroid Film
Editing - Eleanor Burke & Kim Cummings (In Montauk)
Original Score - Rob Kleiner (Culture Shock)
Production Design - Visual Comforts – Michael Wiehart (RE:LEASE)
The DVFS Visionary 2012 Award - Alexander Yan (Elko)
Short Form Screenwriting - TIE
Ali Scher & Joe Swanson (The Maiden and the Princess) / Kathryn Gould (Web of Lies)
Sound Design - Brett Hinton (Narcocorrido)
Special Jury Prize – Technical/Artistic Achiement Certificate - Brendan Gabriel Murphy (Perceptio)
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more information and the full festival lineup for VF12, visit us online at: www.visionfest.com
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For
more information on Visionfest 12: The Other Festival,
please
contact Kate at 413-626-0479 or via e-mail at kate@visionfest.com.
