Calgary: The big winner at the 27th AMPIA Awards, held in Calgary April 28, was Gary Burns’ directorial debut waydowntown, which walked off with a slew of Rosies, including the prestigious Best of Festival award.

The film also won the award for best drama over 60 minutes, best director – dramatic for Burns, best cinematographer – dramatic for Patrick McLaughlin, best overall sound for Theresa Leonard and Per Asplund, best scriptwriter dramatic for Burns and James Martin and best special effects to Mike Tomiak.

Producer Shirley Vercruysse is self-assured about waydowntown’s success at the 48th AMPIA Awards: ‘We had a lot of nominations, we were confident because it’s a very good film.’

Furthermore, the film faced a lack of competition in certain categories. ‘There were no other films that were nominated over 60 minutes. It’s great what the jury said; they really liked the film and wanted to acknowledge that. It’s a film from Alberta that’s doing well nationally and they wanted to acknowledge that. It’s kind of unfortunate that there weren’t any other films in that category. There’s not a lot of indigenous production happening here, but I’m working with Gary on other projects and we have every intention of producing those projects in Alberta.’

The filmmaker himself was in Japan for a waydowntown screening at a film festival in Japan.

The Special Jury Award went to arts doc special Reveries from producer Jean Patenaude and prodcos Sharing Visions/Reveries. Patenaude also won best director – non-dramatic for Reveries, which also won in the category musical or variety.

Mentors, a coproduction between Minds Eye Pictures and Anaid Productions, won in the best series category and also emerged as the winner for best performance by a male (Chad Krowchuk) and in the best makeup category for Prudence Olenik’s work.

Prodco Frame 30 Productions won five Rosies for two projects. The short Skipping Stone accrued three prizes: Bob Riddell won in the category best cinematographer – shorts under 15 minutes, Michael Hamm and Dean McKenzie won in the category best scriptwriter – shorts under 15 minutes, and the film itself won the best short or vignette award.

The best commercial category Rosie also went to Frame 30 for ‘Father and Son,’ produced by Michael Hamm, who also won for best director – shorts under 15 minutes, with the same project, which was automatically eligible because of its playing time.

Saint Bernadette of Bingo from prodco Combustion, and producer Brent Kawchuk won for best dramatic under 60 minutes. Ken Filewych took home the award for best editor – dramatic, and Deb Debienne won the award for best costume design for the same project. Combustion also won the Rosie for best music video for The Language of Love from producer Brent Kawchuk. *