VISIONFEST announces 2013 Independent Vision
Award nominees:
HOW TO MAKE MOVIES AT HOME and HAPPINESS lead
the pack with
7 nominations each, including top prize: The
Domani Vision Award
Narrative features, TWENTY
MILLION PEOPLE, PALACE LIVING, and
BROKEN SIDE OF TIME follow
close behind with multiple nominations!
New York City – June 27, 2013
– VISIONFEST 13: THE OTHER FESTIVAL,
which kicked off last night with a ‘standing room only’ screening, announced
its 2013 IVA (Independent Vision Award) nominees immediately following the ‘kick-off’
show, in the Tribeca Cinemas’ Varick Room.
Festival co-director, Bruno
Derlin, officially revealed the honor roll to enthusiastic applause and cheers,
as participating filmmakers present kicked back with some cocktails and chatter
during the festival’s after-party. The
narrative feature, HOW TO MAKE MOVIES AT
HOME, by Morgan K. Nichols, and the short subject, HAPPINESS, by Chris King, led the nominations list with 7 nods
apiece, with Official Opening Night Selection, TWENTY MILLION PEOPLE, by Michael Ferrell, following close behind
with 6 mentions. “I’m actually glad we
switched our awards template two years ago to announcing nominations on opening
night, as this process generates a truly electric and buzzing atmosphere
throughout the film festival,” stated Bruno Derlin, adding that: “It promotes a
sense of friendly competition and often finds filmmakers starting friendships
with others nominated in their categories – not to mention the fact that it
stirs each filmmaker’s desire to see those other nominees.” Asked about the films that did not receive
nominations, Derlin quickly replied: “We
have a rigid pre-selection process during our programming stages and just being
in the VF line-up is a challenge that each participating filmmaker has already
conquered. To me, all the films in our
line-up are the cream of the crop. The
IVA nominations just single out some areas of outstanding achievement; they’re
not saying that any one film is better than the next, but that there are
individual contributions that, we feel, elevate the overall attributes of the
film being singled out.”
Among some of the
distinctions achieved with this year’s IVA nominations, are the fact that both
of the top nominated films are directed by VF alumni and that both are up for
the festival’s top prize, which is the Domani Vision Award. Both filmmakers, Morgan K. Nichols and Chris
King, are also competing in the Directing and Writing categories. With narrative features traditionally copping
the majority of nominations, it was quite refreshing to see short subjects,
such as HAPPINESS, THE FIRST HOPE, PALIMPSEST and MY PAIN IS
WORSE THAN YOUR PAIN get into the mix with multiple nominations in many of
the top categories, although the other VF narrative features: TWENTY MILLION PEOPLE, PALACE LIVING, and BROKEN SIDE OF
TIME, also pulled some fine numbers, with six, five, and three nods,
respectively, and all in major categories.
Another very refreshing factoid revealed itself in the Jack Nance
Breakthrough Performance Award, a special statuette named after the late, legendary
Lynchian thesp, Jack Nance, to honor acting performances that touch on “scene
stealing” attributes. Three of that
category’s nominees: Davis Desmond and
Lili Reinhart, both singled out for their star-making turns in Jeremy David
White’s THE FIRST HOPE, and Sophia
Rose Vail, nominated for I FEEL STUPID,
are under the age of 18, and one of them, Davis Desmond, whose resume` showcases
his availability to play roles within the ages of 8 and 12, is the youngest
actor ever nominated for this award.
The IVA Ceremony will take
place at Tribeca Cinema 2, on Sunday, June 30, 2013, at approximately 8:30 p.m.
following the ‘Official Closing Night Selection’ screening. Admission is free, however, seat reservations
are highly recommended, and these can be made with festival staff, at the VF
Hospitality desk at Tribeca Cinemas. The
full list of nominees follows below:
THE 2013 INDEPENDENT VISION AWARDS (IVA) NOMINATIONS
Gorman Bechard (BROKEN SIDE OF TIME)
Larry Brand (THE COEXIST COMEDY TOUR)
Chris King (HAPPINESS)
Morgan K. Nichols (HOW TO MAKE MOVIES AT HOME)
Adam Hall (MY PAIN IS WORSE THAN YOUR PAIN)
THE COEXIST COMEDY TOUR (James Carpenter / Rebecca Reynolds)
PALACE LIVING (Biljana Ilic)
PALIMPSEST (Ben Nabors)
TWENTY MILLION PEOPLE (Michael Ferrell, Chris Prine, Devin
Sanchez)
VI (Andrew Fairbank)
Directing
Katie Halper (COMMIE CAMP)
Sang Kim (FAREWELL JIMMY)
Chris King (HAPPINESS)
Morgan K. Nichols (HOW TO MAKE MOVIES AT HOME)
Michael Ferrell (TWENTY MILLION PEOPLE)
Writing
Chris King (HAPPINESS)
Morgan K. Nichols (HOW TO MAKE
MOVIES AT HOME)
Adam Hall (MY PAIN IS WORSE THAN
YOUR PAIN)
Zack Ordynans (PALACE LIVING)
Michael Ferrell (TWENTY MILLION
PEOPLE)
Short Subject Narrative
FAREWELL JIMMY
THE FIRST HOPE
HAPPINESS
I FEEL STUPID
PALIMPSEST
The Jack Nance Breakthrough Performance Award
Davis Desmond (THE FIRST HOPE)
Lili Reinhart (THE FIRST HOPE)
Elizabeth Lardie (HOW TO MAKE MOVIES AT HOME)
Sophia Rose Vail (I FEEL STUPID)
Clark Middleton (MY PAIN IS WORSE THAN YOUR PAIN)
Acting (Male Lead)
Michael Andolini (FAREWELL JIMMY)
Michael Dix Thomas (HOW TO MAKE MOVIES AT HOME)
Aaron Refvem (LIFT)
Joel Nagle (PALIMPSEST)
Michael Ferrell (TWENTY MILLION PEOPLE)
Acting (Female Lead)
Lynn Mancinelli (BROKEN SIDE OF TIME)
Sierra Hersek (HAPPINESS)
Alyssa Mann (PALACE LIVING)
Kathleen Wise (PALIMPSEST)
Devin Sanchez (TWENTY MILLION PEOPLE)
The Abe Schrager Award for Cinematography
Gorman Bechard (BROKEN SIDE OF TIME)
Ryan James Detzel (DRIVING BLIND)
Per Kvanbeck (GOLDEN)
Owen Donovan (PALACE LIVING)
Eduardo Fierro (SIDE EFFECTS)
Documentary
COMMIE CAMP
THE COEXIST COMEDY TOUR
DO NOT DUPLICATE
DRIVING BLIND
SYSTEM PREFERENCES
Larry Brand (THE COEXIST COMEDY TOUR)
Chris King (HAPPINESS)
Morgan K. Nichols (HOW TO MAKE MOVIES AT HOME)
Anya Belkina (SYSTEM PREFERENCES)
Chris Prine (TWENTY MILLION PEOPLE)
Roberto DiPietrantonio (HOW TO MAKE MOVIES AT HOME)
Jace Ford (ILLUSION)
Ioannis Scohorakis (PALACE LIVING)
Brian Rzepka (SIDE EFFECTS)
Eric Davis (VI)
DVFS Visionary Award
Jeremy David White (THE FIRST HOPE)
Jason House (THE GASKETTES)
Milena Pastreich (I FEEL STUPID)
Jessica Hester (ILLUSION)
Justin S. Lee (IRIS)
Short Form Score
Anna Drubich (THE
COLLECTOR’S GIFT)
Jace Ford (ILLUSION)
Nathan Matthew David (IRIS)
Jherek Bischoff (MY PAIN IS WORSE THAN YOUR PAIN)
B.J. Blue (VI)
Short Form Screenwriting
Sang Kim (FAREWELL JIMMY)
Austin Reynolds (THE
FIRST HOPE)
Kjell Kvanbeck
(GOLDEN)
Kieran Valla & Brett Swanson (LIFT)
Alex Lubliner (PRETTY)
Jean Tsai (THE COLLECTOR’S GIFT)
Credits t.b.d. (HAPPINESS)
William D. Caballero
(SEED STORY)
Ken Calhoun (SYSTEM
PREFERENCES)
Lars Rasmusen (37)
Two other
“Special Jury” prizes, one for Overall Technical and Creative Achievement and
one for Social Consciousness are scheduled for announcement at the IVA Ceremony,
but those are not revealed in advance, as they are not based on Jury votes, but
are selected by the Board of Trustees of the Domani Vision Film Society. VF runs thru June 30, at Tribeca Cinemas,
NYC.
