Rossland film makers take home awards at West Kootenay Regional U19 Film Festival
By Contributor
Young film makers impressed the audience at this year’s annual U19 Film Festival held on April 27 at the Royal Theatre in Trail. The annual festival is the largest youth film festival in the West Kootenay region where young film makers compete with short films for cash prizes.
“The calibre and quality of the films was the best I’ve ever seen. It’s really inspiring to see what young people are creating today with film,” says Rachael Roussin, program coordinator for the Rossland Council for Arts and Culture.
The Festival is coordinated by a team of youth volunteers and supported by the Rossland Council for Arts and Culture. “U19 is a very important youth festival for our region. This is a big budget event so RCAC’s goal for the future is to create partnerships with regional community arts councils and youth groups to make this event ongoing, sustainable and broaden our outreach to young film makers in the region,” says Roussin.
A team of four dedicated judges including a film maker, multi media specialist, youth, and local high school graphics teacher worked hard to judge the twelve submitted films in five categories plus the judge’s choice award. Rossland’s James Klemmensen and Liam Barnes took home the prize for best Documentary film. Liam Barnes took home the prize for best Sports Adventure film and Madeline Grace Wood took home best Comedy film.
2013 U19 Winners
An online Vimeo account for all the 2013 U19 films is being created for people to view the submitted films (vimeo.com/u19filmfest).
Congratulations to the winners at U19 who took home cash prizes:
- Comedy: “Sock Monkeys” – Madeline Grace-Wood, Rossland, Age 14
- Documentary: “Barefoot” – James Klemmensen and Liam Barnes, Rossland, Age 16
- Drama: “Loose Ends” – Chris Tremblay, Jordan Strobel and Tim Baldwin, Trail, Age 16
- Snow Sports: “The Moments Continue” – Andrew Woodward, Nelson, Age 18
- Sports/Adventure: “Surge Freerun” – Liam Barnes, Rossland, Age 17
- People’s Choice: “High Rise Ski Edit”- Jordan Strobel, Warfield, Age 16
- Judges’ Choice: “Seatle and Aviation” – Eric Gonzales, Fruitvale, Age 17
Thank you to our sponsors for the event: Columbia Basin Trust, Columbia Power Corporation, Kootenay Association for Science and Technology and BC Arts Council.
To get involved with U19, visit www.rosslandcac.com or email rosslandarts@gmail.com
