Samy’s Camera, CinemaWorks, Samy’s DV & Edit, and City of Hope asked Audience Awards’ community to show the world their stories of hope in the Samy’s Camera Stories Of Hope Video Contest.
The first place winning film, Renewed, by Ashley Seering, shares the story of Guy, an ex-con who restores furniture while also working to repair his life. Seering talked to us about her film and motivation behind making it.
“The biggest challenge was definitely the five day time restraint we had to work in. It required that we make quick decisions without a lot of time for planning or second guessing. However, it was a great learning experience and being able to tell Guy’s (our film’s subject) story was very inspiring.I’m always happy to participate in Audience Awards contests and was very pleased to be able to breathe new life into Renewed.”
Watch Renewed by Ashley Seering
In second place is Albert Miller’s film, Brooklyn’s Journey, that follows eight-year-old Brooklyn, who lives with Spina Bifida and despite her diagnosis, faces the world every day without limitation. Miller shared with us what it was like creating his film and competing in the contest.
“After an hour of inspiration from my best friend, I decided to move forward with this video. Brooklynn Royse happens to be my best friends daughter. I’ve watched this little girl overcome any and every obstacle that’s comes her way. She has a bright contagious personality. She makes strangers feel like family. With all the negative content/news being shoved down our throats everyday, I also feel that people could use a little inspiration. If this child can find joy through her struggles, surely we can too.There’s a shortage of positive content out there. I feel as filmmakers, we are partly responsible for this. We can CHOOSE to create content that inspires, we can CHOOSE to create content that unites.I won’t stop at Brooklynn’s Journey. I will continue filming inspirational stories so that people can have reminders that they aren’t alone in this struggle and where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
Watch Brooklyn’s Journey by Albert Miller
In third place, is André Miranda’s film, My Sister. Miranda’s film is a beautiful reminder that even during the darkest times, there is hope. When asked about his film Miranda told us,
“This was my first movie outside of school. The young actress who plays the younger sister in the film had a brother who at the time had been fighting cancer for two years. It was so easy and powerfull to shoot with her, as she, being only 4 at that time, fully understood the theme and what we were trying to reach.This is the first public show, after Cannes, but I’ve sent the movie to some people fighting cancer and their comments made my day. My aim was to get a smile over cancer, because a smile can overcome all difficulties. A smile is the most powerfull weapon to fight life’s obstacles.”
Watch My Sister by André Miranda
Our Honorable Mention jury winner is the film, Smile High Club Inc by Jim Churchman. Jim specializes in flight as a stunt coordinator in Hollywood. Using the same stunt techniques that Hollywood uses in the movies, The Smile High Club helps kids battling cancer feel like their favorite superheroes by flying them approximately 100′ in the sky.
Watch hope take flight in Smile High Club Inc.
Watch Smile High Club Inc by Jim Churchman
A huge thanks to our community of creatives and filmmakers who submitted their stories of hope, and a hearty congratulations to the winners!
The top 10 films premiere this weekend at PhotoConLA and screen all weekend long from June 8-10, 2018 at Magic Box at The Reef in Los Angeles. Audience Awards CEO will be in attendance.
ABOUT AUDIENCE AWARDS:
Audience Awards believes that filmmakers have the power to change the world. We democratize entertainment by connecting our global, diverse filmmakers, fans and brands through our video platform. We provide opportunities to filmmakers through our turn-key submissions platform that powers turnkey video contests, filmmaking challenges, online film festivals and internal submissions review of content. Audience Awards crowd-sources mission-based, gorgeous content from our award-winning global filmmaker collective. Submissions are juried by the entertainment industry, influencers and celebrities and voted on by the world. The top filmmakers receive prizes, distribution and festival screenings.
