Big congrats to the winners of the 2007 VFS Student Filmmaker of the Year Awards! The ceremony was held on April 13th, and VFS flew the winners back to Vancouver from their homes in Halifax and Los Angeles so they could receive the awards in person. Class of ’06 was one of the most creative Film Production groups the school has seen, but the winners both made such exceptional films, it’s easy to appreciate the judges decision.

Jessica Greenwood won the CTC & Clever Women Award for Outstanding Female Filmmaker for her work as producer on the very first VFS short film in Farsi, titled The Shade. The winner of the Lenhoff & Lenhoff Award for Best Director went to Paul St.Amand for the terrific film Grover’s Mill which he wrote and directed.

Also pictured are VFS President James Griffin, Managing Director Marty Hasselbach, Head of Film Production David Hauka, and representatives of CTC/Clever Women (with Jessica) and Lenhoff & Lenhoff (with Paul).

About the Winners:

Paul St.Amand, a native of Bedford, Nova Scotia, made his directing debut with the 2006 short documentary Parallels, which profiles U.S. military deserters from the Vietnam and Iraq wars. The film has screened at the Vancouver International Film Festival, the Calgary International Film Festival, and as part of the VanCity Theatre Canada Screens series.

Grover’s Mill was an official selection of the Vancouver Student Film Festival, and a turn as producer of a VFS French-language short, Alibi Inc., directed by Grégoire Bédard, also an official selection of the Calgary International Film Festival and the Vancouver Student Film Festival.

Jessica Greenwood was born in Portland, OR in 1982. She moved to Vancouver, BC to study film at the Vancouver Film School. During this year-long program she had the opportunity to work as producer, continuity supervisor, assistant director, writer, editor and assistant editor on a number of short films. She has also worked on short films, music videos, commercials and feature films outside of the school.

In early 2007 she moved to Los Angeles to break into the film world. She has started working as production coordinator on short films, with a hope to work her way up in the producing world of filmmaking. Jessica realizes that with each project and set comes a new opportunity to learn and grow and that she will always be a student of film eager to learn from the next project. The Shade next appears at the Tribeca Film Festival

About the Award Contributors:

Lenhoff & Lenhoff

Lenhoff & Lenhoff is an agency and management company representing Writers, Directors, Producers and Cinematographers based in the Canada, the United States, and Europe. Established in 1991, the company mission is to provide quality representation to its clients.

The Lenhoff & Lenhoff Award was established to acknowledge the artistry of the individual who has directed a film that shows the most promise for appealing to a mainstream commercial audience.

Canadian Tourism Commission

The Canadian Tourism Commission is a national marketing organization designed to promote Canada. Their vision is compelling the world to explore Canada.

With their partners in the tourism industry and all levels of government, they advertise and market Canada in 10 countries around the world, conduct industry research and studies, and promote product and industry development.

Clever Women

Clever Women is a web portal for women that informs German women about everything unusual that is so exciting in Canada. Canada is presented as the perfect travel destination for trendy and modern women. In addition, Clever Women entertains with lifestyle information, blogs of German celebrities who travel to Canada once per year, raffles of great prizes, columns of German novel writers, and other areas of interest.