(Toronto, ON) June 22, 2014

FeFF_white bgWomen In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) alumnae directors, Paula Kelly, Lulu Keating, Annie Bradley and Christine Buijs received top honours at the 12th Annual Female Eye Film Festival’s closing ceremonies held at the prestigious Royal Cinema, 608 College Street, Toronto.

Paula Kelly took home the festival’s top prize, Best Of Show, for her debut feature, Euphoria, a stirring road movie intersecting the lives of a young woman and her mother who abducted her a decade earlier.  Lulu Keating, who is also the 2010 WIDC Feature Film Award-winner for her musical comedy, coming-of-age film, Lucille’s Ball, won Best Canadian Feature. Writer/filmmaker, Annie Bradley with her writing partner, Daniela Saioni were awarded Best Reserve Screenplay from the Festival’s Script Development Program for The WBI, and Christine Buijs won the Audience Choice Award for her comedy script, Divorce Photographer.

In her heartfelt acceptance speech, Keating reflected on her time at WIDC in Banff and her journey to complete Lucille’s Ball –

“I don’t think I would have had the courage to go forward or the tenacity; not taking no for an answer when I hit all of those hurdles, if I hadn’t established who I was in a really deep way, and that’s what WIDC helped me to do.”

Eleven WIDC alumnae films in total screened at the festival including: Evangeline, directed by Karen Lam (FF, nominated for Best Canadian Feature); H & G, directed by Danishka Esterhazy (FF, nominated for Best Canadian Feature); When I First Saw You, directed by Jane Hancock (Short); The Provider, directed by Brianne Nord-Stewart (Short); Pilgrams, directed by Marie Clements (Short); PLACEnta, directed by Jules Koostachin, (Doc); How We Grow, directed by Erika Macpherson (Doc, nominated for Best Documentary); I Can’t Remember, directed by Michelle Latimer (Music).

About WIDC

Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) is an internationally respected Canadian professional development offering specially designed to advance the skills, careers and screen projects of women directors. With 180+ director alumnae across Canada, WIDC is presented in partnership by Creative Women Workshops Association, The Banff Centre and ACTRA, with major support from Telefilm Canada, William F. White Intl., and with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts | Conseil des Arts du Canada, Panavision Canada, the Actra Fraternal Benefit Society, UBCP/ACTRA, IATSE 669, and special initiatives powered by NBCUniversal. www.widc.ca #WIDC

About FeFF

The Female Eye Film Festival (FeFF) is one of three remaining international women’s film festivald in Canada. The brainchild of filmmaker, actress, and WIDC alumna, Leslie Ann Coles, the FeFF is dedicated to showcasing films from around the world, directed by women. Along with festival business affairs director, Rebeka Antanina-Budrys, who happens to be Coles’ daughter, Coles and her team of volunteers has managed to sustain a boutique festival feel while growing the FeFF brand into internationally recognized forum for developing both home-grown Canadian talent, while setting the stage for potential co-productions for women filmmakers. www.femaleeyefilmfestival.com #FeFF2014