Vancouver, Canada – The Motion Picture Production Industry Association of British Columbia (MPPIA), in association with British Columbia Film + Media and the Whistler Film Festival, is pleased to announce the short-listed candidates for the 2011/12 MPPIA Short Film Award.

Based on an adjudication process administered by British Columbia Film + Media, the five finalists and their projects are:

Mark Ratzlaff, Beauty Mark
Ana Valine, Happiless
Amber Ripley, Mermaid in a Jar
Brianne Nord-Stewart, No Return
Liz Van Allen Cairns, Withering Heights

The successful candidate will receive a $10,000 cash award from MPPIA, a $5,000 cash award from British Columbia Film + Media, plus in-kind production services up to $100,000 for a short film project to be completed within 18 months after receiving the Award. The completed project will be eligible for screening at the 2012 Whistler Film Festival.

Now in its fifth cycle, the MPPIA Short Film Award provides one filmmaker with an opportunity to further develop his/her directing career by realizing a unique creative vision. The Award was founded to recognize and celebrate the contribution of film and television to the Province of British Columbia.

Hosted by the Whistler Film Festival (Nov. 30 – Dec. 4), the five finalists will compete for the Award in a special ‘pitch session’ taking place Saturday, December 3, 10 am at the Whistler Conference Centre. Pitches will be made before a panel of three judges and Whistler Film Festival delegates. The successful candidate will be announced at the Whistler Film Festival Awards Brunch on Sunday, December 4.

Also in store at the Whistler Film Festival is the world premiere screening of 2010 MPPIA Short Film Award winner Jeremy Lutter’s Joanna Makes a Friend (date and time of screening tba).

MPPIA is a member-based, non-profit society established in April 2002 to grow, diversify and promote a competitive and sustainable motion picture production industry in British Columbia.

British Columbia Film + Media is a non-profit society established by the provincial government in 1987. It has the mandate to expand and diversify the film, television and digital media sector in British Columbia.

The Whistler Film Festival Society (WFFS) is a charitable, not for profit cultural and educational organization committed to promoting, developing and celebrating a strong film industry in Western Canada, and to showcasing the best films from Canada and around the world.

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For more information contact:

Leslie Wootton
MPPIA Communications
Motion Picture Production Industry Association of BC
604.983.5980
info@mppia.com

Erika Kumar
Administrator, MPPIA Short Film Award
British Columbia Film + Media
604.736.7997
ekumar@bcfm.ca

Lindsay Nahmiache
Publicity
Whistler Film Festival
604.889.7996
linday@jivecommunications.ca