Contact Steve Fesenmaier
Mystery12@charter.net
(304) 345-5850
or
Kevin Carpenter, Director
WV Filmmakers Film Festival
wvfff@elkhotel.us
92 South Stonewall St
Sutton WV 26601
Charleston, October 17, 2006 - The Seventh Annual West Virginia Filmmakers Film Festival has selected its winners. The festival took place in Sutton at the Landmark Studio for the Arts from Friday, October 6th and continued until Sunday evening on October 8th.
The festival began on Friday night with two new documentaries about the arts in Sutton. Ray and Judy Schmitt introduced the world premieres of their two new documentaries about artists that live and work in Sutton. The first film is about The Landmark's own theater group in "For the Love of Theater" lead by Jim Walker. The second film, "Beautiful You" is about Chinese-American poet and sculptor Ai Qiu Hopen, the wife of Bill Hopen, the founder of the Landmark Studio. Gerald Milnes of Elkins was chosen to receive the 2006 West Virginia Filmmaker of the Year Award, sponsored by the WV Film Office. The WV Filmmakers Guild held their annual meeting on Saturday morning, electing new officers and board members.
Terry Lively was elected president of the WV Filmmakers Guild. She is only the fourth president and the first woman to hold this post. Robert Gates of Charleston, John Nakashima of Morgantown, and Peter Griesinger of Buckhannon have been president since the Guild was founded in 1979. She has been the secretary-treasurer for several years.
Other offices elected were Robert Gates, president emeritus, Dennis Strom of Charleston as vice president, Jason Brown secretary, and B.J. Gudmundsson re-elected treasurer. Elected board members are Robert Gates, Daniel Boyd, Kevin Carpenter, Jude Miller and Jesse Johnson. Kevin Carpenter, director of the festival, said, "This year's festival has been a great success and we look forward to 2007."
Here are the winners chosen by the board of The Landmark Studio -
| 2006 FESTIVAL AWARDS | ||
| People's Choice Award |
FOR THE LOVE OF THEATRE | Ray Schmitt, Dir. |
| Best Documentary -
Feature |
CROSSINGS | Terry Lively, Dir. |
| Best Documentary -
Short |
DOWSER | Charles Kleine, Dir. |
| Best Narrative - Short | LOT LIZARDS | Paul Awad, Dir. |
| Best Student Film |
STATIC (WVSU) |
Kevin Scarbrough, Dir. |
| WVFF First Annual Two Minute Horror Competition Winners | ||
| First Place | DEADLINE (WVSU) |
K.C. Bragg, Dir. |
| Best Cinematography Dir. | MR. BUNKY BOY (WVSU) | Michael Sydenstricker II |
| Honorable
Mention |
FACE YOUR FEAR (WVSU) | Michael Ramsey, Dir. |
| Honorable Mention | WHAT LITTLE GIRLS ARE MADE OF (WVSU) | Chris Bavle, Dir. |
Ray Schmitt received The People's Choice Award for "For the Love of Theater," one of his two films about the arts in Sutton. Ray and Judy Schmitt also presented "Beautiful You," a film about Sutton-Shanghai sculptor Ai Qiu Hopen.
Terry Lively, the new president of the WV Filmmakers Guild, won "best documentary feature" for her film, "Crossings - Bridge Building in West Virginia." The film has already been broadcast twice on WVPBS and copies will be given to every public library and public school in the state.
Charles Kleine of WVPBS won "best documentary short" for his film on Bridgeport water dowser Art Digman, "Dowser."
Lydia Mong, who is also the webmaster for the WVFFF, stars in two of the award-winning films - "For the Love of Theater" and "Lot Lizards.
For the first time, WVFFF sponsored a two-minute horror film competition, won by K.C. Bragg for his film, "Deadline."
More than a dozen films were shown including several films that dealt with West Virginia's environmental crises caused by mountaintop removal mining - "Bringing Down the Mountains," "Black Diamonds" and "Mountain Mourning."
The WVFFF wishes to recognize the following for their special assistance preparing for the festival -Thomas Allen, Doreen Carpenter, Steve Fesenmaier, and webmaster Lydia Mong.
For more information, visit the website at - http://www.landmarkstudio.org/wvfff/index.html
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