Updated April 27, 2019 Here’s the #CICHFF 2019 USA/INTL Awards, PDF, A-Z Listing of Submitters, PDF and Event Program, PDF. Our live private screenings were held Sunday, April 14th, 3-9 PM at The Bug Theater. Please tweet and share your awards and our posts on social media – we appreciate it! Here’s what happened at our event last year, #CICHFF 2018. A big thank you goes out to “Special Edd” for snapping pics and shooting some video. Congrats to everyone!
Please don’t hesitate to call/text us with corrections to names, etc., (720) 298-1524. So far, we wish to mention this correction: Canadian filmmaker Derick Campbell, who submitted The Five Rules of Weed, spells his name with one “R” and not two! If you encounter this misspelling in our marketing materials, please make a note of the correction.
Sakinah Iman is a Singer-Songwriter, Actress and Spoken Word Artist of Jamaican and Garifuna decent, born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. For the past 7 years Sakinah has devoted her artistic abilities to creating art that engages audiences in sociopolitical change. Using her music and theatre arts such as spoken word, comedy, drama, and music, Sakinah has traveled the world educating audiences of all ages on topics such as black/female empowerment, sexual assault/violence awareness and prevention, racial discrimination, social/self-awareness, and political activism.
Sakinah currently resides in her hometown Brooklyn, NY where she continues to create powerful and controversial music projects. She’s currently working on the promotion of her debut EP entitled Dun as well as promoting her latest music video for her audience choice single Waiting Tables!
You can stream or download that single on CDBaby and also watch it, video. Check out more videos from Sakinah Iman. Watch her play and sing here.
Award-winning Film/Video Director, Producer, Writer, Shooter, Editor & Graphics 2d & 3d Specialist Evan Seplow has worked on pretty much every conceivable type of project including features, shorts, commercials, music videos, corporate, and pretty much every other kind of marketing and promotional film whether it be live action, animation or even live events. His clients are a huge number of fortune 500 companies in every field (Pharma, Sports, Fashion, Insurance, Education, Electronics, etc.).
He has been asked by both Apple and Adobe to speak at conventions and on video about their products (Final Cut / Premiere / After Effects and more), and has written articles for magazines about graphics techniques. He is comfortable either working as a solo artist, or has helmed large teams of people. His intimate knowledge of every aspect of putting together a finished project allows him to both see the details, and the big picture at the same time.
“I was approached to direct this music video and I liked the song. It’s funny and has a message that I felt will appeal to a lot of people. The artist and I talked a lot about style and approach and we were very in sync that it should be 80’s/90’s ‘retro’ in feel. There’s a bit of ‘She works hard for the money’ in it’s tone. You might not see it at first, but the scenes where she is on the couch looking at the TV were completely green screen and I did virtual sets. There’s a lot of this in the video.” Read more.
Evan got his start in show business as a child actor. By age 13 he had done commercials for Aim Toothpaste and Dunkin’ Donuts, and had a lead role on Broadway. But as a teenager he decided he liked the more technical side, and while attending NYU film school also opened up his own audio recording studio and then graphics studio.
He wound up shooting Music Videos and Producing/Editing Commercials for major and indie record labels, including projects for U2, Tears for Fears, Coolio, Elton John, George Michael, Vanessa Williams and more. Soon after he started shooting independent feature films, including “Blazin”, which ranked on Billboards top 25 grossing sales charts. He also shot the 35mm feature film “Pocket full of Dreams”, an international film shot in India and the USA.
Along with Music Videos and Feature Films, Evan has been shooting Corporate video all along. His client list looks like ‘Who’s Who’ of Fortune 500 companies, including Nokia, Disney, Allstate, Johnson & Johnson, Reuters, Microsoft, and many, many more. “The trend nowadays is to hire a DP along with his (her) gear. I have TONS of gear. But whatever I don’t have can easily be resourced. I can also bring in crew-people of all different levels to accommodate any shoot.” Check out Evan’s equipment & resources, here. Learn more, Evan Seplow.
Our “Shockingly Artistic” Award this year goes to Sally Sherwood for My Golden Rule by Melissa Gail Klein. The artist first encountered the banjo while spending the night on an old wooden sailboat in Kona, Hawaii. “As the evening progressed and the stars climbed over the dark water Melissa knew she had found her passion.
“As a white, female, Jewish American from a privileged upbringing in the suburbs of New York City, I admittedly have never experienced the direct mechanisms of hate. I have not been racially profiled, jailed, threatened with deportation, locked out of opportunities, or subjected to violence and the daily threat of violence. I can only imagine the emotions that such experiences engender. I feel indignant that people who look like me have committed such heinous acts and continue to act with remorseless impunity.
“To those people I say, you may look like me, but something about you is different. You have a disease impairing your sensibility, and that disease is called hate. By other names it is greed. It is racism. It is war….” Read more, Melissa’s blog. Check out her award-winning music video.
While you’re here, be sure to visit the most wonderful and talented #CICHFF 2019 Finalist, Aviva and the Flying Penguins, here. “Aviva is an Israeli-American singer songwriter who has written with many different sound influences including pop, folk, rock, blues, jazz, roots, new age and world beats.”
Aviva and her music group have toured up and down the East coast, from Vermont and Maine down to Florida. Their critically acclaimed CD Painted Truth, featuring “Change”, “Emet”, “Cannabis Car” and more than 10 other uplifting tunes is available online and at shows. Check out Aviva’s musical creations at ReverbNation.
Also, lots of awards this year go to Jason Farris. His music video, Danger Dank, is the debut single from Tacoma’s own Thunders of Wrath. They are “…21st century rock and rollers, writing songs of adventure and freedom, on a quest to discover whatever made rock and roll classic in the first place. Big drums, whole takes, ripping guitars, mind melting synths – it’s about making music that’s fun and fresh and vintage and modern all at the same time. Danger Dank the video brings that idea to the screen with a wild story that takes you across a galaxy that’s both high-octane and lo-fi, bridging the future and the past while hanging on to a few surprises…” Read more.
Jason explains, “This is our experiment in where young people can take cinematic storytelling without a bunch of expensive equipment or huge budgets. It’s the story where we said yes to every idea that seemed impractical to film and just found a way to make something out of nothing. We hope it’s an inspiration to young film makers and musicians everywhere to refuse to recognize the barriers to entry. We also wanted to let everyone know it’s OK for rock and roll to be fun again.”
Jason continues, “…I sincerely love what I do, and I never forget even for a moment that I OWE IT ALL TO the wonderful creative people we have the privilege to work with everyday; clients, casts and crew. We’re a 24/7 film operation and that means we’re always excited to hear about your project and ideas, so please …don’t be shy. It’s our jobs to make the seemingly impossible possible for all budgets. Whether for business or art – we’re going to work very hard to make sure your ideas manifest themselves onscreen in real and powerful ways.” Learn more about Jason’s work, Frankly Cinematics, here and here.
We’re always looking for volunteers, activists and social media warriors to help spread the news about our wonderful creatives! Thanks for sharing your awards and our posts on Instagram and Twitter!
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