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| Future VF organizer, Rain Derlin, poses for rare photo op. |
VISIONFEST 13 smiles on HAPPINESS with
3 Independent Vision Awards
Narrative features HOW TO MAKE MOVIES
AT HOME,
TWENTY MILLION PEOPLE, and PALACE
LIVING round out the
Festival’s a multiple award winners!
LOVE SCENE: THE LOVE STORY
OF VIVIEN LEIGH & LAURENCE OLIVIER
by Bethany Ashton Wolf,
crowned winner of Feature Screenwriting Competition.
New York
City – July 1, 2013 – VISIONFEST 13: THE
OTHER FESTIVAL (VF13), which wrapped its five-day run last night, announced
its 2013 IVA (Independent Vision Award) winners, immediately following its
Closing Night Selection screening, in a fairly short ceremony hosted by VF
co-director, Bruno Derlin. The event,
which ran just shy of thirty minutes, sustained suspense and momentum with the
reading of each nominated film and each recipient was welcomed to the stage
with enthusiastic cheers and applause.
The short
subject narrative, HAPPINESS,
written and directed by Chris King, walked off with 3 IVA statuettes, making it
the evening’s biggest honoree, thus marking only the second time in VF history,
that a short subject film led the winners’ list. Described by its creator as the “intense
story of one woman’s life in the cubicle world and the way her work life causes
her to rethink who she is and what she wants,” the film was also well received by
the VF audience, which was enthralled in a breathless silence throughout the
duration of the screening. In addition
to its Outstanding Achievement in Short Subject Filmmaking award, the film took
home statuettes for its lead actress, Sierra Hersek, and its editor, Chris
King, who wore the bulk of the hats during the film’s production. Melody Ladd accepted the awards on behalf of Chris
King, reading from his notes, that: “Happiness was an amazing filmmaking
adventure and we are just so honored to once again be able to screen our humble
little films at one of the finest festivals on the planet, Visionfest. Thank you very much.” To this, Bruno Derlin, who was visibly moved,
quickly replied: “You see, we get awards
too. That was very kind. Thank you.”
The
festival’s top prize, the Domani Vision Award for Emerging Talent – Filmmaker
of the Year, was bestowed upon Morgan K. Nichols for his narrative feature, HOW TO MAKE MOVIES AT HOME, which also
received an IVA for its Writing. Mr.
Nichols accepted his Domani Vision Award, stating: “I’m deeply touched and honored by this. The film is about trying to encourage people
to make films outside the system with as little money as they possibly can. We
shot this film for $25,000 in three weeks and we won. I feel that this says that anyone who’s
sitting here, not sure that they can make a film because their resources are
limited, let this be a testament to the fact that you can.”
TWENTY MILLION PEOPLE, the narrative feature from one of
the several sold out shows at VF13, nabbed honors for its director, Michael
Ferrell, and editor, Chris Prine – whose award also marked this edition’s only
tie win, prompting Mr. Derlin, to pronounce the winners as “the two Chrisses,
Prine and King.” Accepting his Directing
award, Mr. Ferrell clarified that: “I
directed the movie in name only, but the three of us (referring to his co-stars
and co-producers, Devin Sanchez and Chris Prine) really did do everything
together. It really was a team effort.”
PALACE LIVING, which rounds out the multiple
award winners, saw producer Biljana Ilic take home the Production award, along
with a Certificate of Award for the film’s production designer, Ioannis
Scohorakis. An expecting mom-to-be, Ms.
Ilic humorously quipped: “I’m so
excited. I think this baby is going to
be born tonight by how she is kicking.”
She then thanked the festival for the recognition and referenced her
cast and crew, stating that: “Without them, I would not be able to be here
accepting this award.”
The film festival’s
only other narrative feature, BROKEN
SIDE OF TIME, was honored for its cinematography, winning Gorman Bechard,
who also wrote and directed the film, the first Abe Schrager Award for
Cinematography (sponsored by the ASC) bestowed upon a film entirely shot using
DSLRs. Mr. Bechard humbly thanked the
festival and then proceeded to credit his lead actress, Lynn Mancinelli, for
her amazing talent and for her photogenic qualities, adding that: “I don’t think that anything or anyone in the
world could make Lynn look bad.”
Actor Clark
Middleton, whose riveting performance in the Adam Hall short, MY PAIN IS WORSE THAN YOUR PAIN, won
him the Jack Nance Breakthrough Performance award, stated: “I’ve always been the runner-up for these
sort of things. This (award) is my
first, so thank you very much.” The
festival’s other acting award, recognizing Outstanding Achievement in a Male
Lead Role, went to Joel Nagle for the short, PALIMPSEST.
A special
Grand Jury Prize, voted by the Domani Vision Film Society Board of Trustees,
went to Katie Halper, for her documentary feature, COMMIE CAMP, one of the festival’s hottest tickets, with two sold
out, “World Premiere” shows. In addition
to a Certificate of Award, Ms. Halper received a weekend camera package rental,
courtesy of festival sponsors, AbelCine, valued at $1,000 and a custom jewelry
gift certificate offered by GueGue Creations.
The award
for Documentary Filmmaking went to THE
COEXIST COMEDY TOUR, which led the film’s director, Larry Brand, a previous
IVA Writing Award winner from VF10, to joke that: “The last time I won an award here, I think I
was wearing this same shirt. So it’s
either, my lucky shirt or it’s the only one I have with sleeves.”
Rounding
out the film awards list with Certificates for various categories were: Jessica Hester’s ILLUSION (DVFS Visionary Award), BJ Blue – VI (Short Form Score), Kieran Valla & Brett Swanson for LIFT (Short Form Screenwriting),
William D. Caballero for SEED STORY
(Sound Design), and the Social Consciousness Award to DRIVING BLIND.
The Feature
Screenwriting Competition winner was Bethany Ashton Wolf for her sweeping, epic
screenplay, LOVE SCENE: THE LOVE STORY OF VIVIEN LEIGH AND LAURENCE
OLIVIER, which, along four other screenwriting finalists, will receive a
special services prize from festival script competition sponsor,
InkTip.com. LOVE SCENE is also eligible to be staged in a “live” public reading
in New York City, pending on the author’s schedule and availability.
Many of the
awards handed out during the evening had additional services attached to
them. Among these, in addition to the
ones already mentioned, was a new color correction software offered by
Technicolor.
The full list of IVA winners follows below:
Domani
Vision Award for Emerging Talent
Morgan K. Nichols (HOW TO MAKE MOVIES AT HOME)
Production
PALACE LIVING (Biljana Ilic)
Directing
Michael Ferrell (TWENTY MILLION PEOPLE)
Writing
Morgan K. Nichols (HOW TO MAKE MOVIES AT HOME)
Special
Jury Prize
Katie Halper (COMMIE CAMP)
Short
Subject Narrative
HAPPINESS
The Jack
Nance Breakthrough Performance Award
Clark Middleton (MY PAIN IS WORSE THAN YOUR PAIN)
Acting
(Male Lead)
Joel Nagle (PALIMPSEST)
Acting
(Female Lead)
Sierra Hersek (HAPPINESS)
The Abe
Schrager Award for Cinematography
Gorman Bechard (BROKEN SIDE OF TIME)
Documentary
THE COEXIST COMEDY TOUR
Editing (tie)
Chris King (HAPPINESS)
Chris Prine (TWENTY MILLION PEOPLE)
Production
Design
Ioannis Scohorakis (PALACE LIVING)
DVFS
Visionary Award
Jessica Hester (ILLUSION)
Short Form
Score
B.J. Blue (VI)
Short Form
Screenwriting
Kieran Valla & Brett Swanson
(LIFT)
Sound
Design
William D. Caballero (SEED STORY)
Social
Consciousness
DRIVING BLIND
FEATURE
SCREENWRITING COMPETITION
1st Place: LOVE SCENE – THE LOVE STORY OF VIVIEN LEIGH & LAURENCE OLIVIER
by Bethany Ashton Wolf
2nd Place: DEAD DOLORES by Michael Yagnow
3rd Place: THE LOOPHOLE by Sonja Greenlee & Martha Pinson
4th Place: BIOTERROR CONSPIRACY by Louis Lio
5th Place: HANCOCK PARK by Steven Wolfson
