Congratulations to the award winners of the 2015 Reel Shorts Film Festival! You can watch the Audience Choice winning film below.
Jury members Cody Blue Snider, Brian Morey, and Josh Miller (from right to left in the photo below) selected the following winners from the 95 films that were eligible for juried awards:
- Best Peace Region Short presented by Patrick Southwick (3rd from the left in the photo below), Sales Manager at Decca Industries, along with a cash prize of $500, to Scott Belyea (second from left in the photo below with me beside him) for Outside the Lines which Scott wrote and directed
- Best Animated Short – Strings (Cuerdas), an 11-minute film from Spain written and directed by Pedro Solis Garcia
- Best Documentary Short – The Lion’s Mouth Opens, a 27-minute film from the United States directed by Lucy Walker who was nominated for an Oscar in 2011 for Best Feature Documentary (Waste Land) and in 2012 for Best Documentary Short (The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom) which we screened in our 2012 fest
- Best Live Action Short РThe Way of Tea (Les fr̩missements du th̩), a 21-minute film from France written and directed by Marc Fouchard Рsee photo at right which Marc took after receiving it in France
Judges Scott Belyea and Mark Shpur (seated from left to right in the photo below) selected the following winner from the eligible films created during the Frantic48:
- Frantic48 Best Film presented by Holly Sorgen, Executive Director of Community Futures, along with a cash prize of $500, to the Bourbon and Scotch Team led by team captain Gordie Haakstad and directed by Chris Beauchamp and Gordie Haakstad (holding the award) for Dating Bites.
Audience votes determined the winners of the following awards:
- Audience Choice Award – The Gunfighter, a 9-minute film from the US directed by Eric Kissack. To watch it, see below.
- Youth Audience Choice Award – Foster Dog, a 14-minute film from the US co-written, produced, and directed by Lisa Alonso Vear
- Frantic48 Audience Choice Award presented by Holly Sorgen, Executive Director of Community Futures, along with a cash prize of $500 – Dating Bites by the Bourbon and Scotch Team led by team captain Gordie Haakstad and directed by Chris Beauchamp and Gordie Haakstad. In the photo below, Chris gets a big hug from his mom Donna Guptell.
Grande Prairie sculptor Grant Berg (on the left in the photo above) designed the award that winners receive. On the right is Mack McDonald of Decca Industries in Clairmont who turned Grant’s vision into reality. The base was made by D.R. Sales Woodworking in Grande Prairie, so in every respect it’s a creation of the Peace Region like the film festival itself. The design reflects the fact that the festival takes place in Grande Prairie which is known as the Swan City because trumpeter swans return to the city and surrounding area every spring to nest, and its flame shape symbolizes the passion of the volunteers who put on the festival every year and the filmmakers whose work we celebrate.
Thanks to Festival Presenter Hansen Ford Lincoln and all of the funders and sponsors who made the fest possible, and thanks to everyone who came out and made our 9th festival the biggest and best one yet!
