ViewFinders: International Film Festival for Youth Announces Award Winners

ViewFinders: International Film Festival for Youth (VF4), April 19-23, 2005, a presentation of the Atlantic Film Festival, announced a diverse range of award winners from the Festival including those from the Animation Challenge and Movie Challenge and scholarship recipient.

“From internationally celebrated moviemakers to young talent from our own backyard, this year’s awards celebrates the best in film for youth and by youth,” said Kellie Manning, ViewFinders Director.

The ViewFinders Youth Jury was responsible for choosing the four main ViewFinders award winners from films from Canada and around the world presented on Closing Night of ViewFinders. The jury viewed films in the ViewFinders program during a three-day jury process after learning the basics of film criticism. The jurors are as follows: Emily Jean Court, 14, Stephanie Gerrits, 15, Kathleen MacAulay, 16, Jamie MacCormack-Mason, 12, Alex Thornton, 15.

ViewFinders awards chosen by the Youth Jury:

Gordon Parsons Award for Best Feature Film
Turtles Can Fly – Bahman Ghobadi, Director

CBC Award for Best Short Film
Mir Far Er Bokser (My Dad is a Champ) – Morten Giese, Director

ViewFinders Award for Best Documentary
Rejsen på Ophavet (Max By Chance) – Max Kestner, Director

ViewFinders Award for Best Animation
Through My Thick Glasses – Pjotr Sapegin, Director

ViewFinders Award for Best Animation Honourable Mention
City Paradise – Gaëlle Denis, Director

“With careful deliberation, the Youth Jury chose to award a diverse range of films,” says Andrew Murphy, ViewFinders Programmer. “From an intensely powerful feature as ViewFinders Best Feature to a claymation about the hazards of smoking for the Animation Challenge, the Jury’s decisions were balanced and well thought out.”

ViewFinders Movie Challenge, sponsored by Delta Hotels, and the ViewFinders Animation Challenge, sponsored by TELETOON, were contests for amateur Nova Scotian filmmakers 18 years old and younger. To be eligible, entrants, individually or as a group, submitted a maximum five-minute live-action or animated film, for a chance to be one of the top 10 movies for each Challenge to be premiered on the big screen at Empire 17 Cinemas during the ViewFinders Festival.

The top 10 chosen for each were also eligible to win cash prizes and broadcast consideration on CBC TV and TELETOON, plus a $10,000 scholarship from the Centre for Arts and Technology for those 16 years and older.

Centre for Arts and Technology $10,000 Scholarship Recipient
Tim Ferguson, 18, of Dartmouth for The Majesty of War – A Flash animation looking at how some people confuse war with something to be proud of rather than how destructive it can be.

ViewFinders Animation Challenge Winners:

People’s Choice Award ($1,000 prize)
Hoax by Ryan MacNamara, 17, Lower Sackville – A Lego animation about a pirate who steals his crew’s treasure and traps them in a cave. Years later, teenagers find the haunted cave.

1st Prize ($500 prize)
Christmas Wars by Mark Canfield, 14, Malagash – One elf rebels against Santa and tries to save the other elves from slavery by engaging in a battle with light sabers and “the force.”

2nd Prize ($250 prize)
Smoking by Matthew Bustin, 15, Halifax – Talking to strangers and smoking: a lethal combination in this clever claymation.

Youth Jury Award ($100 prize)
Smoking by Matthew Bustin, 15, Halifax – Talking to strangers and smoking: a lethal combination in this clever claymation.

Honourable Mention
Grave by Freddie Timmons, 17, Pleasant Bay – A claymation short about an old grave and the angry skeleton that crawls out of it.

ViewFinders Movie Challenge Winners:

People’s Choice Award ($1,000 prize)
Tracks by Hana MacKeil, 15, Belnan – A chance meeting between two strangers. She unexpectedly leaves. His life is changed and he now knows he cannot waste a second of it.

1st Prize ($500 prize)
Tracks by Hana MacKeil, 15, Belnan – A chance meeting between two strangers. She unexpectedly leaves. His life is changed and he now knows he cannot waste a second of it.

2nd Prize ($250 prize)
Ecoblivion by Danny Boos, 16, Halifax – An insightful documentary on the awareness of littering and pollution.

Youth Jury Award ($100 prize)
Ecoblivion by Danny Boos, 16, Halifax – An insightful documentary on the awareness of littering and pollution.

Honourable Mention
Friendship by Graham Bowditch, 17, Bedford – A girl recounts her ghostly experiences where she was visited by the ghost of her murdered friend who leads her to the killer.