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Awards and accolades for Wex filmmakers

Melissa Starker, Creative Content & PR Manager

Oct 25, 2018

Filmmaker Sam Green has a champagne toast with Wexner Center for the Arts Director Sherri Geldin and the center's Film/Video team following the performance of "A Thousand Thoughts: Sam Green and Kronos Quartet" on January 25, 2018. Photo: Katie Spengler

Every year, several dozen filmmakers connect with the Wex through our Film/Video Studio program, Visiting Filmmaker events, and our annual Artist Residency Awards. We know from up-close experience how much talent, drive, and dedication each brings to their work. Aside from hosting them in Columbus and experiencing their work, there's nothing we enjoy more than seeing them recognized by the industry and their peers. It's been an especially good week for that.

Late last week, three documentary artists visiting the Wex this weekend for Unorthodocs. were among the five filmmakers to see their work nominated for a 2018 Gotham Award for Best Documentary: Robert Greene for Bisbee '17RaMell Ross for Hale County This Morning, This Evening; and Bing Liu for Minding the Gap.

Minding the Gap also picked up multiple nominations last week in the 2018 Critics' Choice Documentary Awards and yesterday, Bing and the film were honored with two IDA Awards from the International Documentary Association for Best Editing and Best Emerging Filmmaker. Robert and RaMell also received 2018 IDA Awards, sharing the prize for Best Music Score.

In addition, the IDA bestowed three-time Academy Award nominee Julia Reichert with a Career Achievement Award for 2018. A true Ohio treasure who's visited the Wex many times, Julia kicked off last year's inaugural edition of Unorthodocs. with a master class led by her and partner Steve Bognar. She's also a past Artist Residency Award recipient and our Film/Video team is currently collaborating with the Museum of Modern Art on a traveling retrospective of her work for 2019.

Also this week, the Sundance Institute announced the 10 filmmakers to receive support from its Art of Nonfiction Fellowship and Fund for 2018, and more than half of them have Wex connections. Newly minted Sundance fellows Deborah Stratman and Sam Green (pictured above at the Midwest premiere of A Thousand Thoughts: A Live Documentary by Sam Green and Kronos Quartet) are both previous Wex Artist Residency Award winners, as is Sundance 2018 grantee Kevin Jerome Everson.

Among the other fellows, there's Sky Hopinka, whose work has shown exclusively in Columbus at the Wex, and Natalia Almada, a past Wex visitor for a retrospective of her work who's returning with her latest, Everything Else, when it screens here next month. In the list of other grant recipients, there's Jem Cohen, a veteran of our Film/Video Studio Program, and Leilah Weinraub, who's not only worked in the Film/Video Studio extensively, she's here tonight with Shakedown, the opening night film of Unorthodocs. 2018.

We're so proud to support this caliber of art and artist. We hope you'll join us this weekend to see some award-winning new work and meet a few of them during the Unorthodocs. Filmmaker Reception on Saturday. And it's easy to stay up to date with our schedule of visiting filmmakers; just sign up for the Wex's weekly newsletter.

Image: Sam Green toasts with Sherri Geldin and members of the Film/Video team following the premiere of A Thousand Thoughts on January 25, 2018 in Mershon Auditorium. Photo: Katie Spengler