The 12th annual California On Location Awards (COLA) yielded three spot industry honorees: Jof Hanwright was named location professional of the year in the commercials category based on work for Suzuki; and the production company/location team of the year honor in spots went to bicoastal/international @radical.media, location manager Peter Kwong and his department for a Grapenuts Trail Mix Cereal shoot. The COLA ceremony, which also honored location professionals in features, TV and still photography, was held this past weekend in Los Angeles…..Element 79, Chicago, has launched a sports branding group, Element 79 Sports, led by agency executive VP John Fraser and senior VP/group creative director Danny Schuman….Composer/sound designer Ted Gannon, formerly of Subvoyant, New York, has joined Manhattan-based Bionic….Panasonic Broadcast has released a DVD containing more than 25 commercials shot with its AJ-HDC27 Varicam HD Cinema camera. The DVD–featuring a range of national and regional spots, as well as promos, PSAs and alternative content–is available for free online at www.panasonic.com/varicam….
“Atropia” and “Twinless” Win Marquee Prizes At Sundance Film Festival
The war satire “Atropia,” about actors in a military role-playing facility, won the grand jury prize in the Sundance Film Festival’s U.S. dramatic competition, while the Dylan O’Brien movie “Twinless” got the coveted audience award.
Juries and programmers for the 41st edition of the independent film festival announced the major prizewinners Friday in Park City, Utah.
Other grand jury winners included the documentaries “Seeds,” about farmers in rural Georgia and “Cutting Through the Rocks,” about the first elected councilwoman in an Iranian village. The Indian drama “Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears),” about a city dweller mourning his father in the western Indian countryside, won the top prize in the world cinema competition.
“It’s for my dad,” said writer and director Rohan Parashuram Kanawade. His late father, he said, was the one who encouraged him to pursue filmmaking.
Audiences also get to vote on their own awards, where James Sweeney’s “Twinless,” about the bromance between two men who meet in a twin bereavement support group, triumphed in the U.S. dramatic category. O’Brien also won a special jury award for his acting.
The U.S. documentary audience award went to “André is an Idiot,” a life-affirming film about dying of colon cancer. Other audience picks were “Prime Minister,” about former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and “DJ Ahmet,” a coming-of-age film about a 15-year-old boy in North Macedonia.
Mstyslav Chernov, the Oscar-winning Associated Press journalist, won the world cinema documentary directing award for his latest dispatch from Ukraine, “2000 Meters to Andriivka,” a joint production between the AP and PBS Frontline.
“Here’s to all... Read More