The 2018 Leo Awards announced their nominees' list and northern B.C. is in the frame.
The Leos are the trophies for B.C.'s bustling screen arts industry, covering feature-length films, short-films, documentaries, television, online programming and more.
For the first time in Leos history, a movie based in this area and shot in this area is on the shortlist.
The major motion picture Never Steady, Never Still is one of the most nominated projects of the year.
Set and filmed in Fort
St. James, written and directed by part-time Stuart Lake resident Kathleen Hepburn, this movie is the culmination of two previous short-film versions that also got Leo attention in past years as Hepburn advanced the production to its finished feature length.
In the Motion Picture category of the Leo Awards, Never Steady, Never Still is in the running for Best Motion Picture (James Brown, Tyler Hagan, Carol Whiteman and Lori Lozinski - producers), Best Director (Hepburn), Best Sound (the team of Matt Drake, Oscar Vargas, Nate Evans, Christopher O'Brien, David Elias and Daoud Evia), Best Production Design (Sophie Jarvis and Liz Cairns), and Best Casting (Kara Eide, Kris Woznesensky).
The biggest winner on Tuesday's nomination day was the film adaptation of the Richard Wagamese novel Indian Horse.
This Canadian modern day classic is a story winning major box office rewards across Canada in theatres now, and one of the supporting actors in the film is Burns Lake (and part-time Prince George) teenager Braeden Crouse.
Indian Horse is nominated for Best Motion Picture, Best Director (Stephen Campanelli), Best Screenwriting, Best Editing, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, and Jesse Zubot's original music is up for Best Score.
Among the other Leo Award nominees are shows that have had some reach to local talent. The crime show Cardinal is up for Best Dramatic Series and Best Screenwriting and it has featured Prince George actor Steven Cree Molison (Molison also had a part in Never Steady, Never Still).
Fort St. James actor (also with past connections to Never Steady, Never Still) Dylan Playfair is a regular in the mega-hit show Letterkenny which is up for Best Music, Comedy or Variety Program/Series.
Riverdale is up for six trophies and that show has utilized the talents of Chris Carson.
The popular dramatic series Supernatural is up for two trophies and it has featured many Prince George actors like Nicholas Harrison, Madison Smith, Sonya Salomaa, Chad Willett, Giovanni Mocibob, Patricia Cullen, and Molison again.
If any local nominees for the 2018 have been omitted, or if there is someone local working in the B.C. screen arts industry that should be featured, please contact The Citizen by email at fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca or call 250-562-2441.
