Film students strut their stuff
Student filmmakers and scholars at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema were honoured at the school’s 2011 awards ceremony, which took place at the J.A. DeSève Cinema on May 5.
The annual awards ceremony recognizes excellence in student film animation and production, and academic achievements in film studies. Many of the films will be featured at a festival May 12 to 14.
Pascal Plante, a student in the film production program, took home the most prestigious of the evening’s 49 prizes (some of which had multiple winners). Plante won the Mel Hoppenheim Award for Outstanding Overall Achievement in Film Production for his film La fleur de l’âge.
Other top prize recipients included Yoshino Aoki, who was awarded the Prix de la Cinémathèque québécoise pour l’excellence en cinéma d’animation; Alexander Carson, who took home the Lotte Eisner Prize; and Dominike Courteau, who won the Technicolor Award.
Graduating student Courteau, who wrote and directed La cabane brûlée, said that the awards ceremony was a wonderful way to cap off her time in the undergraduate film production program.
“It’s so touching to see that everyone — teachers and industry professionals — are so invested in student work. They really care about students. Winning this award is a really nice way of ending everything.”
All winners received funding, tuition waivers or in-kind donations of editing time or rental equipment. New 2011 awards include the Susan Pigott Memorial Award for new students in the MFA in Studio Arts program, Film Production Option (won by Georgina Haraszti); the Sony of Canada Charitable Foundation Award (won by Zachary Finkelstein); and the Aldo Group Advisory Board Scholarship in Film Production (won by Philippe Benoît).
Several donors from private industry, including Mel Hoppenheim, attended the ceremony and cocktail reception.
The dynamic work of this year’s Concordia filmmakers will be screened at the annual year-end student film festival at the National Film Board of Canada’s CinéRobothèque (1564 St-Denis St.) from May 12 to 14, 2011. The festival culminates in the Best of the Fest on May 14 at 9 p.m.
For schedule and ticketing information, visit the CinéRobothèque website.
Related link:
• Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema