BZN International Film Festival announces new Ted Turner Award for environmental stewardship in filmmaking and invites submissions.
Ted Turner attended the inaugural BZN International Film Festival in Bozeman, Montana, last spring and liked what he saw: “As a film lover, it was heartening to attend BZN — I’m encouraged to see such high regard for intelligent filmmaking.”
BZN Artistic Managing Director Beth Ann Kennedy, working with the Turner Foundation, felt inspired to create the Ted Turner Award, a $5,000 cash award to be given to the film that most inspires environmental stewardship; the film will be screened at BZN International Film Festival.
“We are indeed committed to fostering intelligent filmmaking and in that spirit, along with the Turner Foundation, we are initiating a Ted Turner Award for Environmental Stewardship,” Kennedy said. “BZN’s mission is closely aligned with that of the Turner Foundation: We too want to see ‘humanity live in harmony with the environment and be at peace with one another.’ Film is a powerful medium for educating, encouraging, and inspiring audiences to get involved and take action to protect our planet. We understand that conservation is complex and requires involvement from many different perspectives.”
Submissions for 2019 can be in any of these four categories: narrative feature, documentary feature, documentary short, and narrative short. The festival’s 2019 theme will again highlight environmental issues, as well as women and their stories.
“We seek film submissions from around the world that encourage environmental stewardship or detail innovative solutions to gender-specific or global dilemmas — engaging all ages, ethnicities, political associations, and interest groups,” Kennedy said.
The deadline for late submissions to the 2019 film festival is February 15. This year’s festival takes place June 6 – 9, 2019.
Passes are on sale now. For more information about the BZN International Film Festival, visit bozemanfilmcelebration.com.
Photography: Ted Turner (seated, right) with Waded Cruzado, president of Montana State University, on opening night of last spring’s inaugural BZN International Film Festival, which featured the HBO documentary Happening: A Clean Energy Revolution, by director Jamie Redford (on left) of the Redford Institute/Courtesy BZN International Film Festival.
