FAVA Fest 2022

Celebrating independent filmmakers

Screenings – May 24th-28th / Awards – November 24th

FAVA FEST 2022

FAVA was excited to present FAVA FEST 2022!

Our annual event is a celebration of members and some of the amazing work they’ve produced over the last 24 months.

With something for everyone including documentaries, narratives, music videos, animation and more, FAVA FEST 2022 brought the unique visions, perspectives and stories from FAVA members together under one festival May 24th – 28th, 2022. The awards were presented at the Film & Screen Media Year-End Event, November 24th! 

About The Festival

FAVA FEST showcases our member’s works and put on a big party to celebrate outstanding achievements in film, video and media art in our community. Learn more about the festival here.

Event Schedule

 

Here is what you can expect for this years event, screening May 24th – 28th:

NIGHTLY CINEMA SCREENINGS @ 7 PM (Tuesday – Saturday) 

Week-long screenings in the Orange Hub Theatre of some fantastic independent film and media art made by FAVA filmmakers.

ARTIST TALKBACK – Friday, May 27, 2022 

Following the program on Friday, there was a filmmaker’s talkback session with Hands That Bind writer/director Kyle Armstrong, moderated by none other than the amazing Christian Zyp host of Moving Radio on CJSR FM.

BBQ & Mixer @ 5:30 PM Saturday, May 28th

On the final day of screenings, members enjoyed some FREE food and tour The Orange Hub with fellow filmmakers and FAVA Staff!

AWARDS PRESENTATION AT THE FILM & SCREEN MEDIA YEAR-END CELEBRATION – November 24th, 2022

FAVA and the ESIO hosted the year-end celebration on Thursday, November 24th. There, in addition to a variety of showcases, we presented this year’s FAVA FEST Award Winners and Production Grant Recipients. More info about this event can be found here: EVENTBRITE

Screening Schedule

 

Click the titles to read more about the piece!

Tuesday, May 24th

  1. THE FINAL EXAM - Narrative Short Film
    Beth Wishart MacKenzie & Ibrahim Cin
    Synopsis: Set in 1998 Turkey, The Final Exam is a classroom drama based on actual events. Upholding new academic policy, a professor tells a devout young Muslim woman to remove her headscarf in order to write a final exam. Seeing her distress, the young man beside her finds a “strategic” way to guard her privacy. (2020/Turkish with English Subtitles).
  2. WANT TO: CAMERON O'NEILL - Music Video
    Laura La France
    Synopsis: A crackling fire reflected in a glass of shiraz. Chinese takeout for one. A hot bubble bath . . . Big Mimic Productions and Cameron O’Neill present: Want To.
  3. RESTING BIKE FACE - Experimental Film
    Oliver Lessard
    Synopsis: A look at the serious yet completely fabricated medical condition known as “Bicycle Face”. Originally discovered in the late 1800’s, the condition was created in an attempt to dissuade women from riding bicycles.
  4. ¿CUBA QUE LINDA ES CUBA?: CONFESSIONS OF A FEARLESS CUBAN - Documentary Short Film
    Hebert Poll Gutiérrez
    Synopsis: Through theater, storytelling, and animated stories, writer and stage storyteller Hebert Poll Gutiérrez, a true son of Cuba, decides to use art once again to entertain, educate and transform realities. The project it is a revelation of that secret Cuba…that invisible Cuba that does not appear in the mass media. A beautiful land but plagued by social problems such as racial discrimination, police abuse, prostitution, psychological abuse, bureaucracy, among other evils that affect today’s Cuba.
  5. DILLY DIGGER - Animation
    Eva Colmers
    Synopsis: Dilly is a curious little mole who loves to dig and make friends. He promised to find mushrooms for Grandpa’s soup but …. it’s hard to stay on task when you meet a fuzzy caterpillar, funny butterfly and young Giraffe with mushroom-shaped horns. Playfully, the shortfilm questions our obsession with being efficient when “detours” can actually lead to wonderful discoveries. Our small crew has created a truly innovative, handmade, new animation style right here at FAVA.
  6. WOCHIIGII LO: END OF THE PEACE - Documentary Feature Film
    Heather Hatch
    Synopsis: WOCHIIGII LO: END OF THE PEACE follows a coalition of resistance led by West Moberly First Nation and Prophet River. The story follows Diane Abel and Chief Roland Wilson as their nations battle the Government of British Columbia to preserve their treaty and cease construction of a multi-billion-dollar mega-dam along the Peace River. 

Wednesday, May 25th

  1. BLIND AMBITION: THE WOP MAY STORY - Documentary Short Film
    Tom Robinson & Frederick Kroetsch
    Synopsis: After learning to fly in the First World War, a young Canadian man returns home to start a bold career in aviation. Barnstormer, lifesaver, and intrepid bush pilot, Wilfred ‘Wop’ May proves the value of flight to the world. But when a 15-year-old injury requires catastrophic vision surgery, he is forced to admit he’d done it all with only one good eye.
  2. MPFO - Music Video
    Sara Campos-Silvius
    Synopsis: MPFO (aka Misogynistic Pigs F*ck Off) is the original punk song and music video from the upcoming short film POWER CHORD written and directed by Sara Campos-Silvius.
  3. POWER MOVES - Experimental Film
    Nauzanin Knight
    Synopsis: Power Moves flaunts the power of Black women by drawing a comparison between her moves in society and the moves of the black queen chess piece on the board. #ShadesofWorth
  4. RENDEZVOUS - Narrative Short Film
    Olga Stachowiak & Alina Tuseeva
    Synopsis: This story is about how tricky situation could be when people find each other on line and try to meet in reality.
  5. TANGO THROUGH LIFE - Animation
    Zsofia Opra-Szabo
    Synopsis: Life is like a dance where we do not know the dance steps… Visually stunning and highly symbolic, Tango Through Life explores the cycle of life and how every interaction with others affects and changes us. It is a rather universal experience, presented in a unique way through with various Tango dance. 
  6. ABDUCTED - Narrative Feature Film
    Sharlene Millang & Daniel Foreman
    Synopsis: When his sister suddenly goes missing, 17-year-old Derrick leaves everything to find her. He experiences racism, police brutality, and his lack of confidence, and ends up facing her abductor in a fight to the death. 

Thursday, May 26th

  1. TOMATO CAN - Narrative Short Film
    Ryan Northcott
    Synopsis: When aging prizefighter Reg ‘The Ripper’ Reeves takes a tough fight on short notice, his coach and his wife Alex can do nothing but step back and try to control the damage.
  2. LOVE! ... (IS THE ANSWER): ALADEAN KHEROUFI - Music Video
    Laura La France
    Synopsis: While living together over 2020, filmmaker Laura La France was able to capture true scenes from the life of musician Aladean Kheroufi, which now comprise this official music video. Shot entirely on Super 8 and 16mm film.
  3. HIPPOCRATES: A GUIDE TO TREATING HEALTHCARE WORKERS - Documentary Short Film
    Kieran Fong
    Synopsis: An Edmontonian filmmaker explores who wins and who loses under a privatized healthcare system and why so many doctors are leaving Alberta.
  4. 1000 BRAZILS OF TRUTH - Experimental Film
    Sheena Rossiter & Sandro Silva
    Synopsis: São Paulo is a megacity full of paradoxes. It’s a place to lose yourself, but where you can find yourself too. It is beauty in concrete and chaos. “1000 Brazils of Truth” is an original song that’s ode to Latin America’s largest city.
  5. AJJIGIINGILUKTAAQTUGUT (WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT) - Animation
    Lindsay McIntyre
    Synopsis: What does it mean to be Inuk? Historically depicted as welcoming and friendly people in remote snowy landscapes, in reality, Inuit live across the globe. Using antique wind-up bears, layered animation, and analogue techniques, McIntyre constructs an animated documentary in an exploration of identity and belonging by Inuit, both in and outside of community. What does it mean to belong in a changing world when our ideas of Inuk-ness are so tied to particular representations?
  6. THE ONE - Music Video
    Daniel Nana Asiedu
    Synopsis: “The One” tells a story of a young male musician in his early stages of his career who appeared to have lots of distractions from his social circle. He is able to stay committed and true and committed to his girlfriend in spite of the distance that would separate them and the busy demands of his career. He eulogizes her and shows her to the whole world that “she is the one”.
  7. WENDOVER, WHY ON EARTH - Documentary Feature Film
    Adam Bentley
    Synopsis: When two close friends team up with a budding videographer to cover an elite secret artist retreat in Wendover, the middle of the Utah salt flats, they are completely underwhelmed, but discover a crumbling “bombshell” hidden on a “plane site” that completely changes their perspective on this borderline gambling den.

Friday, May 27th

  1. HOW I REJECTED MINIMALISM - Documentary Short Film
    Adam Bentley
    Synopsis: Stuck at home in Pandemic lockdown, a couple with diverging views on their clutter-filled home uses a mix of ambient cinematography, cinema verite discussion, enhanced animated medical images, and stock footage to show how they come to realize it is not always so bad to own a lot of stuff.
  2. Çås¢a∂ing €®r0r Win∂0ws - Experimental Film
    eryn tempest
    Synopsis: Çås¢a∂ing €®r0r Win∂0ws (CEW) is a video about human-beings in digital spaces shot entirely on my computer desktop. It is an exploration of artificial intelligence, human consciousness, and embodiment that troubles deeply held convictions about what it means to be alive, to be a person, and to be in conversation with another. Taking up threads from early A.I. research, transhumanism and cognitive science, CEW explores human being as a reflection in someone else’s computer screen.
  3. WAITING ON LOVE - Narrative Short Film
    Clare Mullen
    Synopsis: Our little hero has secured a job as waiter, unfortunately he is not very good at his job; he just can’t help trying to be clever performing magic tricks with everything around him. When our hero discovers a man is about to propose to his gal, he tries to help him out by magically producing the ring. Unfortunately, the man is not pleased with this waiter stealing his thunder.
  4. FUTURES WITHIN - Animation
    Adolfo Ruiz
    Synopsis: Futures Within offers a brief exploration of alternative futures using hand-rendered illustration and animation. Subtle reference to social malaise and environmental issues provide the basis for this one minute piece. Reflecting on current challenges faced by humanity, the film takes the viewer on a visual journey through portals that reveal plausible worlds.
  5. OF LOVE & LIGHT - Documentary Short Film
    Alexis Marie Chute
    Synopsis: “Of Love & Light” interviews nineteen-year-old Edmontonian Jordan Stonehouse whose mother, Lisa, died at the age of 52 at the University of Alberta Hospital following complications due to Astrazeneca vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT). Lisa was the first case of VITT in Alberta.
  6. HANDS THAT BIND - Narrative Feature Film
    Kyle Armstrong
    Synopsis: A hired hand’s plans to take over his boss’s farm are shattered when the landowner’s son returns to claim his birthright.

Saturday, May 28th

  1. HIS SHADOW - Narrative Short Film
    Hrachya Tokmajyan
    Synopsis: A young man is haunted and tested by the shadows of his past, and must choose between the path of self acceptance or self destruction.
  2. DIAGNOSED DISSOCIATIVE: SHAWNEE KISH - Music Video
    Justin Kueber
    Synopsis: Music Video for ‘Diagnosed Dissociative’ by Shawnee Kish.
  3. PASTRIES - Animation
    Carlo Ghioni
    Synopsis: The pastries lead to find love, love is making pastries for the special one; a grumpy pastries-man finds inspiration when he creates sweets for a woman he loves, who, in return, grants him the chance of a smile.
  4. YEARS AGO: KAELEY JADE - Music Video
    Justin Kueber
    Synopsis: Music Video for Kaeley Jade’s new single ‘Years Ago’.
  5. QUINN - Documentary Short Film
    Eva Colmers
    Synopsis: QUINN is an intimate documentary about change and identity. Against the backdrop of nature and interspersed with art and old footage, the documentary provides a rich sense of ups and down in Quinn’s life, over 4 seasons and 4 years. This deeply personal, yet surprisingly universal story is powered by the music of celebrated Rae Spoon. “Nothing stays the same”, says Quinn, as they strive to find a place in a society obsessed with labels.
  6. TAILSPIN: CALLING ALL CAPTAINS - Music Video
    Justin Kueber
    Synopsis: Music Video for Tailspin by Calling All Captains.
  7. THE ANCESTRAL TREE - Animation
    Patricia Anne Duquette
    Synopsis: The tragic loss of familial history, culture, and traditional community ties. Through symbolism, this is a story of harrowing fractures through time, all the while honouring the legacy of an Métis Elder.
  8. SLOWLY GETTING BETTER: MAKING AN ALBUM - Documentary Feature Film
    Justin Kueber
    Synopsis: A feature length documentary chronicling Edmonton punk band Calling All Captains as they record their debut full-length record “Slowly Getting Better” amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Awards

 

Thank you to all who submitted to FAVA FEST 2022! Here is our list of award winners:

Production Grants for New Work:

  • Lisa Trofimova Video Award | The Brink | Sylvia Douglas
    • The Lisa Trofimova award supports the creation of a non-documentary video-based project. Prizes: $1000 Cash + $1500 FAVA production credit.
  • Joe Vizsmeg Documentary Award | Headspace: Artists on Mental Health | Alexis Marie Chute
    • The Joe Viszmeg award supports the creation of a documentary film or video project. Prizes: $1000 Cash + $1500 FAVA production credit.
  • Alex Thomas-Haug Emerging Artist Award | My Life FACTS | Janelle Nicol
    • The Alex Thomas Haug Award supports the creation of a new work by an emerging filmmaker. An emerging artist is one who has less than three years of practice, has completed basic training, has completed at least one independent film or video artwork. Prizes: $500 Cash + $500 FAVA production credit.

Excellence Awards for Finished Work:

  • Outstanding Short Form Narrative | The Final Exam | Beth Wishart MacKenzie & Tobias Nicholas
  • Outstanding Long Form Narrative | Hands That Bind | Kyle Armstrong
  • Outstanding Short Form Documentary | Blind Ambition: The Wop May Story | Frederick Kroetsch & Tom Robinson
  • Outstanding Long Form Documentary | Wochiigii Io: End of the Peace | Heather Hatch
  • Outstanding Music Video | “Years Ago” by Kaeley Jade | Justin Kueber
  • Outstanding Inter-Art Performance or Installation | Promised Land | Les Sereda & Joanna Manchur, Ukrainian Shumka Dancers
  • Outstanding Experimental | Çås¢a∂ing €®r0r Win∂0ws | eryn tempest
  • Outstanding Animation | Tango Through Life | Zsofia Opra-Szabo

Craft Awards 

  • Screenwriting Award | Hands That Bind | Kyle Armstrong
  • Production Design Award | Promised Land | Ukrainian Shumka Dancers and Darka Tarnawsky
  • Cinematography Award | Hands That Bind | Mike McLaughlin
  • Performance Award | PLACE/Is a City Written on this Body? | Rosanna Terracciano
  • Sound Design Award | Blind Ambition: The Wop May Story | Johnny Blerot
  • Derek “Buzz” Sharplin Award for Outstanding Editing | Wochiigii Io: End of the Peace | Brenda Terning

Event Partners

 

FAVA FEST 2022 is made possible with the generous support of the following organizations.

Please note that while we accept work created over the past 24 months, only work that has never been submitted to FAVA FEST before can be submitted. This includes work that was submitted but not accepted.