Craig Takeuchi/ The Georgia Straight
As Canada commemorates its 150th anniversary, the Vancouver International Film Festival has been celebrating the accomplishments of Canadian filmmakers throughout its 36th edition.
Tonight (October 7), VIFF announced the winners for B.C. and Canadian awards at the B.C. Spotlight Gala screening of Vancouver filmmaker Melanie Wood’s documentary Shut Up and Say Something, about spoken-word poet Shane Koyczan.
It turned out to be quite the night for B.C. filmmaker Kathleen Hepburn.
In the B.C. award categories, Hepburn won the B.C. Emerging Filmmaker Award for her Fort St. James–shot feature Never Steady, Never Still, about a woman with advanced Parkinson’s disease whose son is struggling with his sexual identity while working in Alberta’s oil fields.
Hepburn received a $7,500 cash prize from the Union of BC Performers/ACTRA, plus a $10,000 equipment credit from William F. White.
What’s more, Hepburn also received the $2,000 Emerging Canadian Director Award from the Directors’ Guild of Canada. Halifax filmmaker Seth A. Smith received an honorable mention for his horror film The Crescent.
Hepburn went on to also win the $20,000 Sea to Sky Award, which recognizes the work of a female key creative in a B.C.–produced feature or short film.