FAVA gala audience
The FAVA fest gala on Saturday night was a roaring success! Hundreds of people packed the lobby and theatre for a night of awards and celebrations from Edmonton’s media arts co-op. Dignitaries representing the city and provincial governments attended, including the Honourable Minister of Culture, Heather Klimchuk.
The evening opened with Debussy’s Claire de lune performed live by pianist Cameron Watson, accompanied by a new short film, Variations on a Chosen Landscape by Wes Miron, which was specially commissioned for this night. Following this, the awards were presented.
Production Awards grant cash and production credits to produce the best film, video, and documentary projects. This year, the awards were presented to:
- The Helen Folkmann Film Award: Lindsay McIntyre and Dave Morgan
- The Lisa Trofimova Video Award : Katrina Beatty
- The Joe Viszmeg Documentary Award: Beth Wishart-McKenzie.
Also for this year, a new award was announced: the Alex Thomas Haug award for an emerging filmmaker was created to accommodate a new artist who shows great promise. This year’s Alex Thomas Haug Award was presented to Ali Sultani, a former Video Kitchen student who specializes in science fiction stories with a psychological bent.
The Awards of Excellence recognizes the best work from FAVA members in the past 18 months. Winners this year were:
- Best Short Narrative: Dylan Rhys Howard, This Wind
- Best Experimental: Eva Colmers, Autumn
- Best Animation: Carlo Ghioni A Walk in the Park
- Best Documentary: Lindsay McIntyre, Where We Stand
- Best Music Video (tie): Christina Ienna, New Black
- Best Music Video (tie): Fish Griwkowsky, Something’s Wrong/You Don’t Love Me Lover
- Special Jury Prize: Parker Thiessen, Fin d’une Epoque
The Outstanding Achievement Award recognized Rick Gustavsen, a founding member of FAVA who has worked on more than 1500 FAVA member works, usually as a cinematographer.
During the course of the evening, FAVA Interim Executive Director Dave Cunningham announced an exciting new project was announced: FAVA TV, an online channel of works by independent artists in Edmonton. Programming will include films, performances, and variety shows.
Viewers can access this content and artists can create a profile at http://www.favatv.com
