It brought Jeanne Beker to Newfoundland and put an emerging filmmaker’s first film on the St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival’s closing night gala screen.
Initiated in honour of Michelle Jackson, a young Newfoundland filmmaker and student mentor who passed away suddenly in 2008, the RBC Michelle Jackson Emerging Filmmaker Award supports emerging female filmmakers residing in Newfoundland and Labrador. The competition is open to female Newfoundland and Labrador filmmakers who have not yet directed a feature film. Applicants are asked to submit a script for a six-minute short film, a production schedule and budget. Scripts will be judged by a selected panel.
The winner will receive close to $40,000 in cash and in-kind production services for their film, and will be mentored by award-winning director and producer Anita Reilly McGee. The winner’s film will premiere on the closing night of the 23rd Annual St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival, on October 20th, 2012, at the Arts and Culture Centre.
Last year’s winner is the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council’s 2012 Artist of the Year, Ruth Lawrence, who filmed Two Square Feet, starring Jeanne Beker. The film is about a woman coping with a divorce who meets someone that changes her life forever. Allison White, an up-and-coming producer and director, was the inaugural winner in 2010. She used the prize to make Decoloured, a short film about a colour blind man whose vision is changed when he falls in love.
For instructions on how to apply for the RBC Michelle Jackson Emerging Filmmaker Award, visit the St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival webpage:
http://www.womensfilmfestival.com/pg.php?p=23
The deadline to apply is June 1st, 2012.
For more information about the RBC Michelle Jackson Emerging Filmmaker Award, please contact:
Sarah Smellie
Communications and Publicity Manager
The St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival
709.754.3141 (w)
709.689-0296 (c)
sarah@womensfilmfestival.com