WIDC represents at 2024 Leo Awards

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Vancouver, BC – Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) organizers are delighted to uplift the tremendous showing of WIDC alumni, including WIDC co-creator and producer, Dr. Carol Whiteman, at the 2024 Leo Awards, presented by the Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Foundation of British Columbia, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to celebrate and promote the achievements of the British Columbia film and television industry through the presentation of an annual awards program – the LEO AWARDS.

Forty-five nominations were garnered by WIDC alumni and their related projects for the 2024 edition of the Leo Awards, including a whopping 15 nominations for Marie Clements’ Bones of Crows (the Series); 12 nominations for Laura Adkin’s debut feature film, Re:Uniting (developed at WIDC Story & Leadership), five nods for WIDC Feature Film Award recipient Kim Albright’s debut feature, With Love and a Major Organ.

WIDC Alumni received seven Best Direction* nominations and took home four Best Direction Leo Award trophies in a variety of categories from Motion Picture to Series to Docs.

Outstanding Achievement
Winner – Dr. Carol Whiteman, for her contributions to BC’s screen industry.

Motion Picture

BEST PICTURE
Winner – Re:Uniting (Laura Adkin, Krista Rand – Producers)
Nominee – With Love and a Major Organ (Madeleine Davis, Carol Whiteman, Lori Lozinski, Nessa Aref – Producers)

BEST DIRECTION*
Winner – Laura Adkin, Re:Uniting
Nominee – Kim Albright, With Love and a Major Organ

BEST SCREENWRITING
Winner – Laura Adkin, Re:Uniting

BEST PERFORMANCE
Winner – Michelle Harrison, Re:Uniting

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE
Winner – Carmen Moore, Re:Uniting
Nominee – Roger Cross, Re:Uniting
Nominee – Veena Sood, With Love and a Major Organ

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Winner – Leonardo Harim , With Love and a Major Organ
Nominee – Stirling Bancroft, Re: Uniting

BEST SOUND (including MOWs and Series)
Nominee – Dave Chick, Alex Shamku, Re: Uniting

BEST EDITING
Nominee – Alex Leigh Barker, Re:Uniting

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Nominee – Angelyne Martin, Re:Uniting

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Nominee – Elizabeth Nankin, Re:Uniting
Nominee – Nicole McCormick Swan, With Love and a Major Organ

BEST CASTING
Nominee – Bim Narine, Re:Uniting

Television Movie

BEST DIRECTION*
Nominee – Wendy Ord, A Perfect Christmas Carol

Short Film

BEST SHORT
Nominee – The Ornament (Jinjara Mitchell, Jordan Connor, Kent Donguines, Louis Wei, Kyle Guerrero, Ryan Cheng, Sydney Scotia – Producers)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Nominee – Michael Wylam, The Ornament

BEST PERFORMANCE
Nominee – Natalie Boltt, The Ornament

Television Series

BEST DRAMATIC SERIES
Nominee – Bones of Crows (Marie Clements, Trish Dolman, Christine Haebler, Sam Grana, Aaron L Gilbert, Steven Thibault – Producers)

BEST DIRECTION*
Winner – Marie Clements, Bones of Crows
Nominee – Nimisha Mukerji, My Life with the Walter Boys

BEST SCREENWRITING
Nominee – Marie Clements, Bones of Crows

BEST EDITING
Nominee – Greg Ng, Roderick Deogrades, Maxime Lahaie, Bones of Crows

BEST SOUND DESIGN
Nominee – Gregor Phillips, Nolan McNaughton,
Ryan Thompson, Miguel Nunes, Andrea Velarde Mosquera,
Alex Macia, Devon Quelch, Matias Gibbs, Bones of Crows

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Nominee – James Phillpot, Bones of Crows

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Nominee – Carmen Thompson, Jessica Kalan, Bones of Crows

BEST MAKE UP DESIGN
Nominee – Elizabeth McLeod, Darci Jackson, Bones of Crows

BEST HAIR DESIGN
Nominee – Charlene Dunn, Bones of Crows

BEST CASTING
Nominee – Judy Lee, Bones of Crows

BEST GUEST PERFORMANCE
Nominee – Jenn Griffin, Bones of Crows
Nominee – Evan Adams, Bones of Crows

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE
Nominee – Alyssa Wapanatâhk, Bones of Crows
Nominee – Summer Testawich, Bones of Crows

BEST PERFORMANCE
Nominee – Grace Dove, Bones of Crows

Documentary

BEST FEATURE LENGTH DOCUMENTARY
Nominee – WaaPaKe (Tomorrow) (by Jules Arita Koostachin – Teri Snelgrove, Shirley Vercruysse – Producers)

BEST SCREENWRITING
Nominee – Jules Arita Koostachin, WaaPaKe (Tomorrow)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Nominee – Michael Bourquin, WaaPaKe (Tomorrow)

BEST PICTURE EDITING
Nominee – Jessica Dymond, WaaPaKe (Tomorrow)

BEST SOUND
Winner – Eva Madden, Matt Drake, 500 Days in the Wild

BEST DIRECTION DOCUMENTARY SERIES*
Winner – Jules Arita Koostachin, Lands Enchanted – Traces of the Transformers

Music, Comedy, Variety Series

BEST DIRECTION*
Winner – Siobhan Devine, Reginald the Vampire

Web Series

BEST WEB SERIES
Nominee – Yolanda, the Goddess (Giselle Miller – Producer)

BEST PERFORMANCE
Nominee – Giselle Miller, Yolanda, the Goddess

ABOUT WIDC

Founded in 1996/97, Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) is an internationally respected Canadian professional development offering, specially designed to advance the skills, careers and fiction screen projects of mid-career women and non-binary directors. Over 375 director alumni across Canada earn hundreds of awards and nominations for their work annually and their work reaches millions of audiences world-wide. Co-created by representatives of ACTRA, GEMS Vancouver (formerly Women In Film and Television Vancouver), and The Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity which was its home venue for eighteen years, WIDC is presented with major support from Telefilm Canada, and Warner Bros. Discovery Access Canada, and with the participation of Creative BC, Actra Fraternal Benefit Society, ACTRA National, UBCP/ACTRA, Independent Production Fund.

WIDC community collaborators include the National Film Board, St John’s International Women’s Film Festival, Reelworld Film Festival and Screen Institute, GEMFest, Female Eye Film Festival, DGC, DGC, BC, Crazy 8’s, TIFF, VIFF, the Whistler Film Festival, and GAT PR.

WIDC Feature Film Award is supported by MELS Studios, Keslow Camera, Panavision Canada, JAM POST Inc., Rocket Science VFX, Distillery VFX, Sunbelt TV & Film Rentals, Elemental Post, Company3 Vancouver, AA VFX, North Shore Studios, The Bridge Studios, Vancouver Film Studios, The Research House Clearance Services Inc., Front Row Insurance Brokers Inc., Descriptive Video Works, Line 21 Media Services, Power of Babel, EP Canada, Portable Electric, Champ & Pepper.