Filmocracy, the world’s premiere digital screening, distribution, and experience platform, announced the Award Winners for the Second Annual hybrid in-person/digital run of the Festival, in a ceremony held at DTLA’s Boomtown Brewery last evening. Presenting Sponsor Liquid Media Group Ltd (NASDAQ: YVR)’s Joshua Jackson delivered closing remarks to kick off the awards program announced by co-founders Paul Jun and Jon Fitzgerald.
Filmocracy presented three Audience Awards in three categories on behalf of audience voters:Documentary: Dear Ike: Lost Letters to a Teen Idol, directed by Dion Labriola. In this animated documentary, Labriola recounts his all-consuming childhood quest to contact his teen idol, Ike Eisenmann (of Walt Disney’s Escape to Witch Mountain fame) and ask Ike to star in an animated science-fiction epic he’d been developing.
Audience Award Winner Discovery – My Dead Dad Director Fabio Frey and Pedro Correa – Emerging Talent (Actor), for his performance in My Dead DadDiscovery (for emerging talent): My Dead Dad, directed by Fabio Frey. A young burnout who discovers his estranged father is dead, leaving him the responsibility of managing an apartment complex. With hopes of cutting ties, he’s forced to grow up, learning about the dad he never knew through the eclectic tenants.Short Film: The Night I Left America, directed by Laki Karavias. While awaiting the results of his mother’s visa renewal request, a teenage boy living in Texas is forced to confront memories of the life he so desperately wanted to leave behind in Uganda.With documentaries and social impact films anchoring the festival, Filmocracy presented a Grand Jury Prize for this category:
The Six Poster Grand Jury Prize, Documentary: The Six, by Arthur Jones. Racism and xenophobia towards Asian communities in the West has sadly deep roots. Jones’ previously untold story of RMS Titanic‘s Chinese passengers is an extraordinary examination of survival and dignity in the face of racism and anti-immigrant policy.Filmocracy conferred two
more Discovery Awards, recognizing excellence in emerging talent in Narrative Features. The winners were: Actor Pedro Correa, for his performance in My Dead Dad; and director Luàna Bajrami, for The Hill Where Lionesses Roar. A coproduction of companies from France and war-torn Kosovo, centering on feminism and female empowerment. Bajrami’s film focuses on three young and free-spirited girls in Kosovo who engage in petty crime as they impatiently await their opportunity to go away to university.
Filmocracy previously announced that each year it would present the Inspiration Award to honor a filmmaker and their work on a project that engages with and inspires change in the world. This year’s Inspiration Award went to Liz Marshall and her film Meat the Future for her commitment to filmmaking for change. On accepting the award, Marshall said, “Meat the Future is about one of the biggest ideas of the century; a game-changing solution. This film was made with grit and determination, with love for humanity, for nonhuman animals, and planet earth. To be expected, the journey took time, almost five years! With much gratitude I receive this Inspiration Award, and dedicate it to my fellow storytellers. We take big risks to make films that can help change the world.” Meat the Future brings science fiction to the dinner table courtesy of Dr. Uma Valeti, whose Upside Foods is at the forefront of a new industry: making meat from cells, not from animal slaughter. Musician (and vegan) Moby is the executive producer and provides music for Liz Marshall’s film, and Dr. Jane Goodall provides narration.The jury was comprised of:Jeff Swimmer, Chair of the Documentary Department at Chapman University and director of the award-winning A Golden State of Mind: The Storytelling Genius of Huell Howser; Tiffany Boyle, film producer and President of Ramo Law, P.C.; and Christopher Wehling, former photojournalist, producer, camera operator, and field producer and current Content Manager for creative network Conscious Good.While the closing ceremonies have ended, the digital festival goes on. Select films remain available to view online through Friday, December 17th on https://filmocracyfest.com.
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