A First: Five Female Filmmakers Pitch For the MPPIA Short Film Award at the Whistler Film Festival

For the first time in the history of the Award all five of the talented emerging BC directors competing for the Award are women.  Based on a comprehensive adjudication process administered by Creative BC, the five finalists and their projects are:

Jane Hancock,  Divide and Concur
Jem Garrard, Unit Bryan
Maja Aro, Hoods
Reem Morsi, Show and Tell
Shannon Kohli, A Spy’s Last Night

The MPPIA Short Film Award has become a highlight on the annual Whistler Film Festival calendar, as some of BC’s brightest emerging directors vie on stage before a jury of industry professionals for the sought after filmmaking prize.

The successful candidate receives a $10,000 cash award from MPPIA, a $5,000 cash award from Creative BC, plus in-kind production services up to $100,000 for a short film project to be completed within one year after receiving the Award. The completed project will premiere at the 2016 Whistler Film Festival.

Don’t miss the Whistler Film Festival world premiere screening of last year’s MPPIA Short Film Award pitch winner Andrew Rowe’s Vehicular Romanticide:

Saturday December 5 at 12:15pm at Millennium Place in Whistler.

Now in its ninth cycle, the MPPIA Short Film Award provides one filmmaker with an opportunity to further develop his/her directing career by realizing a unique creative vision. The Award was founded to recognize and celebrate the contribution of film and television to the Province of British Columbia.
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The Motion Picture Production Industry Association of BC (MPPIA) is a member-based, non-profit society established in April 2002 to grow, diversify and promote a competitive and sustainable motion picture production industry in British Columbia.

Creative BC is a non-profit society established by the provincial government in 2013. Their mandate is to provide the programs, services and expertise needed to expand and diversify British Columbia’s creative industries, stimulate investment and employment in the creative sector and promote BC’s creative content and production capabilities both at home and in the global marketplace.

The Whistler Film Festival Society (WFFS) is a cultural charitable organization dedicated to furthering the art of film by providing programs that focus on the discovery, development and promotion of new talent culminating with a must attend festival for artists, the industry and audiences in Whistler. WFFS produces one of Canada’s leading film festivals and plays a leadership role in offering professional and project development programs for filmmakers. The 2015 Whistler Film Festival runs December 2 to 6.

The MPPIA Short Film Award is made possible by the above organizations as well as the generous support and contributions of the British Columbia motion picture production community. 

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For more information contact and media interview requests:

Leslie Wootton   
MPPIA Communications
Motion Picture Production
Industry Association of BC
604.983.5980
info@mppia.com

Erika Kumar
Administrator, MPPIA Short Film Award
Creative BC
604.736.7997
ekumar@creativebc.com

Lindsay Nahmiache
Publicity
Whistler Film Festival 604.889.7996
lindsay@jivecommunications.ca