CONTACT INFORMATION:
Jared Milrad, Founder and President
A Show For A Change, Inc.
info@ashowforachange.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A SHOW FOR A CHANGE FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES JANUARY 2021 AWARD WINNERS FOR SOCIAL IMPACT FILMS
Los Angeles, CA – February 26, 2021 – A Show For A Change today announced several winners for its monthly global film festival, celebrating social impact films from around the world. The awarded films include projects from around the world and were created by numerous celebrated filmmakers.
“We’re proud to recognize these powerful films that advance the social causes of our time,” said Jared Milrad, founder and president of A Show For A Change. “Our festival continues to attract a strong diversity of socially conscious films from around the world. This month’s awarded films address timely causes, including racial justice, climate change, the harmful effects of colonialism, and autism awareness.”
This month’s winners include:
● Social Impact Award: S.O.B.E.R. - DWI Courts and the Transformation from Addiction to Recovery Directed by Justin Jarrett.
Over 1.5 million people are arrested every year in the United States of America for DWI offenses. S.O.B.E.R. DWI Courts and the Transformation from Addiction to Recovery is a film that chronicles how one court decided to take a different approach to the problem. Learn more by clicking here!
● Creativity Award: Elephant Elephant Elephant! Directed by Millie Young.
Elephant, Elephant, Elephant! is a 10 minute immersive animation experience, hand drawn in 360° animation that plays with our anthropomorphism of elephants, initially delighting the audience in the guise of elefunks in the circus, they then transform back into ‘real’ elephants, whose stereotypical actions appear like they are dancing and greeting each other. The illusion broken, the suspension of disbelief is exposed and signals the beginning of the elephant’s poetic escape leaving us alone in the dark. See the trailer here!
● Storytelling Award: Young Lions Directed by Federico Ahumada.
Owana, a girl on the threshold of puberty faces the unexpected death of her father. Rail, her best friend witnesses the murder at the hands of his own father. Both decide to escape leaving behind the conflict that breaks out in their village.
● Cinematography Award: Between the Creag and the Sky Directed by Kurt Heinlein.
Attempting to find a re-connection, a father takes his estranged teen daughter on a trip into the wilderness. Catch a clip of the film here!
“Having our film, Between the Creag and the Sky, selected by A Show for a Change is an honor. Creag follows a day's events as a divorced father takes his estranged teen daughter into the wilderness in an attempt to forge a re-connection. In doing so, the film strives to illuminate the vitality of the natural world in bringing balance to our lives, most specifically within our interpersonal relationships. The mission of A Show for a Change in forging positive change is the primary reason why we were excited to submit Creag for consideration, and why we're even more joyous that the film was selected!”
Kurt Heinlein, Director of Between the Creag and the Sky
“I think too often, we see someone commit a crime and we immediately jump to the punishment for that crime, but we fail to step back and look at how we can help this person. Do we as a society have the ability to honestly help this person get their life back on track? Do we make those tools readily available to them, or do we simply lock them up and throw away the key hoping the problem simply solves itself? My hope was that as filmmakers we could open the door to society beginning to look at Issouf as a human being that needs our help rather than a statistic that happens to be a human being. Then, hopefully, if we are lucky maybe his story could help someone else and so on and so forth. Eventually, changing the conversation and beginning to reduce the problem that is recidivism.”
Justin Jarrett, Director of Social Impact Award: S.O.B.E.R. - DWI Courts and the Transformation from Addiction to Recovery
“This Creativity award from A Show For A Change Film Festival is a great endorsement of Elephant Elephant Elephant! a ten-minute hand-drawn animation made by ‘an avant-garde, experimental film-maker, working independently, and with a more self-conscious auteur’s perspective’ in the 360 paradigm. It is a metaphor for our relationship with elephants.
It addresses the 'elephant in the room' playing with our anthropomorphism of elephants, delighting the audience with the elefunks the narrative captivates us as they replicate the familiar scenario of circus acrobats, trapeze, ropes, hoops, unicycles and even a flying elefunk cannonball – until it becomes overwhelming, teetering on the absurd. The fantasy breaks and signals the beginning of their escape. We start to see them as elephants, and for what they really are: sentient beings, too large to see fully, mysterious, secretive, beautiful in their natural form, yet in such close proximity that we feel claustrophobic, but we can’t escape as we are fixed to the virtual spot; until they leave us, alone with only our shadow to contemplate the dark empty space which they once inhabited.
The festival is a great chance to share this experience and prick the consciousness of a wider audience. It was a labour of love made as part of my PhD, and is a single-handed creation made by a 50 something traditional woman animator.”
Millie Young, Director of Elephant Elephant Elephant!
“This is the first fiction short film I shoot in the Caribbean Region of Colombia, from where I'm from. It’s inspired by a tale that has the same name and that later became a novel by Colombian writer Joaquín Rojano. This film was my first approach to my roots as a filmmaker, both geographically and culturally speaking, and it's reflected, especially in the music and the relationships between the characters, and has a deep connection to my childhood memories.”
Federico Ahumada, Director of Young Lions
A Show For A Change invites filmmakers who share a passion for changing the world through the power of storytelling to submit to our monthly film festival. We seek diverse, engaging stories that address societal, environmental, and cultural issues. To apply for our next film festival, filmmakers can submit their projects by February 28, 2021 using this link: https://filmfreeway.com/ashowforachange
About A Show For A Change Film Festival
With 400+ global submissions, A Show For A Change has awarded some of the most creative, groundbreaking, and inspiring stories highlighting social issues since launching its monthly festival in December 2017. The company’s mission is to celebrate socially impactful films through the art of storytelling and advocate for enduring social change. It embraces films that challenge the status quo and stand up for urgent causes like human rights, animal rights, and the environment.
Learn more about our current projects and monthly global film festival at ashowforachange.com
Website: A Show For A Change
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