Most Memorable Youth Film presented by SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs

The audience’s favourite youth-made film of the festival. This is a film that left a lasting impression on viewers - maybe they felt it in their bodies, couldn’t stop thinking about it afterwards, or were inspired to see movement from new perspectives.

WINNER: WHERE WE MEET Karmella Cen Benedito De Barros and Lexi Mellish Mingo (Commissioned Artists)
Honourable Mention: ZI JI Corinne Langmuir and Erin Lum (Commissioned Artists)

Where We Meet is an experimental film exploring the Black femme body and its relationship to space through conscious movement on the unceded and unsurrendered territories of the Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, and Musqueam people. The story follows our protagonist as they navigate isolation and seek a sense of belonging in a conflicting and new environment. Drawing on themes of double consciousness and experimental embodiment, this story explores the relationship between Blackness and the environment in which this concept exists. Drawing from community dialogue to address the filmmakers own subjective relationship to public space as mixed race Black identifying people, this film intends to hold space for diverse experiences of Blackness in so-called "Vancouver". In times where racial politics exist in every crevice of society, the filmmakers escape temporal confines by decolonizing our situated experience, delving into the untold past, dreamy memories and future imaginings.

Filmmaker Karmella Benedito De Barros // Filmmaker and Mover Lexi Mellish-Mingo // Music Composer Isaia Dobbs // Mover Janessa St. Pierre // Mover and Interviewee Kafiya Mudey // Interviewees Felix-Marie Badeau, Chelene Knigh and Rubie Smith Díaz

Audience Choice Film presented by Scotiabank Dance Centre

This was the audience’s choice for best overall film - recognizing innovation through camera movement, editing, sound, concept, visuals and of course: movement. This film left a lasting impression on viewers and shifted their perception of movement-on-screen - from start to finish.

WINNER: LUNACY Simran Sachar (Commissioned Artist - Youth Category)
Honourable Mention: ITSY BITSY Kusanagi Sisters (Japan - Emerging Category)

A movement film about sexual abuse and rape and the haunting aftermath that take place inside and outside of a woman’s body. LUNACY explores the expectations, and image placed upon young women and their innocence versus what society really wants from this innocence. The aftermath contains how this experience shaped Simran's movement. From Simran's experiences, she brings you LUNACY from the very depth of the most honest corner of her heart.

Director, Movement Direction, Writer Simran Sachar // Cinematographer, Sound Design Mike To // Editing Mike To, Simran Sachar, Katherine Baquiran, Eric Cheung // Assistant Cinematographer Katherine Baquiran // Cinematographer for intro Dallas McKinnon // Make-Up Artist and Hair Sophia Gamboa // Movement Artists Denise Yang, Katherine Baquiran, Sophia Gamboa, Sharon Lee, Frankie Anne Warren, Melody Safavi, Lochlan Walsh, Eric Cheung // Special thanks to Eric Cheung, Denise Yang, Mike To, Katherine Baquiran, Sophia Gamboa, Sharon Lee // Space and Equipment provided by Cineworks

Most Moving Film presented by Scotiabank Dance Centre

This was the audience’s vote for the film that moved them physically and emotionally. The concept, themes, movement and visuals moved viewers to feel, respond, think, react.

WINNER: RHIZOPHORA Davide De Lillis and Julia Metzger-Traber (Vietnam - Emerging Category)
Honourable Mention: DUMPLINGS / 餃子 Kimberly Ho (Canada — Youth Category)

RHIZOPHORA Davide De Lillis and Julia Metzger-Traber

Dancing between waking and dreaming, a day seen through the eyes of eleven young residents of the Friendship Village in Vietnam who are living with disabilities caused by Agent Orange. As the film progresses we are welcomed ever deeper into their richly symbiotic world.

Director Davide De Lillis and Julia Metzger-Traber // Co-creators and performers "The Seeds of PossAbility"; Hương Đinh, Mai Ngô, Long Nguyễn, Long Cảnh, Đô Lê, Tuấn Vương, Hơn Vy, Thu ận Trần, Lệ Nguyễn, Hóa Bùi, and Dung Hà // Costume Mai Ngô // Camera, Translation Assistance Đỗ Thu Hiền // Production Assistant, Cultural Translator Jennifer Trang Nguyen // Editor Katelyn Stiles // Sound Design Barnaby Tree // Shot at Friendship Village in Hanoi, Vietnam

NEW: Youth Digital Innovation Award

Due to an overwhelming response by audiences, we are pleased to be able to create a fourth Award for this year’s festival for a film our audiences and curators were particularly moved by and wanted to recognize as a highlight of the festival. This award was made possible by the unexpected and overwhelming support for the Digital Festival this year. This award recognizes a film that was not only loved by audiences, but that embodies a spirit of innovation and creativity in the film medium.

WINNER: SUNGLOW GECKO Kendra Epik (Commissioned Artist - Youth Category)

Sunglow Gecko is an exploration of introspection and an attempt to piece together fleeting moments of uncertainty. It is trying to understand what it feels like to learn something new for the first time. To make our own conclusions about objects that have already been claimed. As we search to find a shade of a colour that perfectly fits, what else will we discover? Does a conclusion reveal everything about yourself that you need to know? Maybe we already know what this is supposed to be like, but maybe we can decide for ourselves. Colour, shape, light, and texture tell a story that has been told many times, but it will be new. Nothing is certain, everything is certain. If we start again from the beginning, will everything pan out the same?

Direction, Production, Wardrobe, Choreography, Camera 1, Editor, Sound Editor Kendra Epik // Composer, Camera 2 Daniel Katsoras

Thank You

Our 2020 film awards are made possible by the support of our partners SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs and Scotiabank Dance Centre.