Award winners named in imagineNATIVE media fest

The 14th annual imagineNATIVE Film and Video Arts Festival celebrated the work of local and international indigenous artists in the categories of film, video, radio and new media on Saturday, Oct. 19 at the Hoxton nightclub in Toronto.

The event was hosted by comedian Ryan McMahon. Winners in 12 categories and two pitch contests were selected.

Satellite Boy (pictured) by Australian director Catriona McKenzie was the winner for best dramatic feature while the Alanis Obomsawin Best Documentary Award went to Who Will Be A Gurkha? directed by Kesang Tseten. Each award is a cash prize of $1500.

Satellite Boy is about a boy who yearns for the mother that abandoned him as a child. Worried that a new mining project will prevent her from ever finding him, he travels across the Australian Outback to convince the mining company to change its mind.

The Nepalese film Who Will Be A Gurkha? documents the history of an elite British army unit that has been recruiting soldiers from the foothills of the Himalayas for 200 years.

Rats by Kaniehtiio Horn and Waneek Horn-Miller won the Short Drama Prize Pitch contest, while Naming That Bridge by Theola Ross and Rachel Deutsch was awarded the best Short Documentary Pitch.

Both of the pitch contest winners will receive cash prizes from the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN); services from William F. White International; services by Technicolor Toronto; consultation services with NFB producers and crowd-funding support by imagineNATIVE.  The Short Doc. Pitch winner will also receive a Hot Docs Networking and Market Pass; a one year DOC membership and a cash prize from the CBC News Network.

The following winners were given $1,000 cash prizes:

Best Music Video – Row – Houston R. Cypress

Best Experimental – He Who Dreams – Dana Claxon

Best Canadian Short Drama – Mohawk Midnight Runners – Zoe Hopkins

Best Short Drama – Abalone – Tracey Rigney

Best Short Documentary – Inuit Cree Reconciliation – Neil Diamond and Zacharias Kunuk

Best Radio – Native Waves Radio: Resonating Reconciliation – Janet Rogers

Best New Media – SKAHIÒN:HATI /RISE OF THE KANIEN’KEHÁ:KA LEGENDS – Skins 3.0 Collective

The Cynthia Lickers-Sage Award For Emerging Talent – El Último Consejo (The Last Council) –  Itandehui Jansen

Best Indigenous Language Production Award – Baybayin (The Script) – Kanakan Balintagos

The Ellen Monague Award For Best Youth Work – Før Hun Kom, Etter Han Dro (Before She Came, After He Left) – Marja Bål Nango

Shaw Media Mentorship Program – Marie Clements

The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival which includes two days of panels and workshops was held from Oct. 16 – 20, 2013 at various venues throughout Toronto. The programming team received more than 120 submissions from more than 50 countries.