Frank Peebles / Prince George Citizen
The 2018 Leo Awards announced their nominees’ list and northern B.C. is in the frame.
The Leos are the trophies for B.C.’s bustling screen arts industry, covering feature-length films, short-films, documentaries, television, online programming and more.
For the first time in Leos history, a movie based in this area and shot in this area is on the shortlist.
The major motion picture Never Steady, Never Still is one of the most nominated projects of the year.
Set and filmed in Fort St. James, written and directed by part-time Stuart Lake resident Kathleen Hepburn, this movie is the culmination of two previous short-film versions that also got Leo attention in past years as Hepburn advanced the production to its finished feature length.
In the Motion Picture category of the Leo Awards, Never Steady, Never Still is in the running for Best Motion Picture (James Brown, Tyler Hagan, Carol Whiteman and Lori Lozinski – producers), Best Director (Hepburn), Best Sound (the team of Matt Drake, Oscar Vargas, Nate Evans, Christopher O’Brien, David Elias and Daoud Evia), Best Production Design (Sophie Jarvis and Liz Cairns), and Best Casting (Kara Eide, Kris Woznesensky).
Among the other Leo Award nominees are shows that have had some reach to local talent. The crime show Cardinal is up for Best Dramatic Series and Best Screenwriting and it has featured Prince George actor Steven Cree Molison (Molison also had a part in Never Steady, Never Still).
Fort St. James actor (also with past connections to Never Steady, Never Still) Dylan Playfair is a regular in the mega-hit show Letterkenny which is up for Best Music, Comedy or Variety Program/Series.