3-D SPACE, Stereo Sisters, and the LA 3-D Club are pleased to announce the winners of The 14th Annual LA 3-D Movie Festival. The festival’s mission is to showcase the best independent stereoscopic 3-D filmmaking from around the world. This year’s fest took place on Dec 16th-17th, 2017 at the Downtown Independent Theater in Los Angeles. The festival featured over 20 independent 3-D short films, including 11 student produced films; the 58th Hollywood International Exhibition of Stereoscopic Photography; and a 10th anniversary screening of the groundbreaking stereoscopic concert film U23D and discussion with the film’s producer, Steve Schklair.
Festival Awards were announced at the Closing Night Ceremony on Sunday, Dec 17th, by LA 3-D Movie Festival director and 3-D SPACE executive director Eric Kurland and Stereo Sisters founder Shannon Benna. Top films were selected by audience ballot and by special jury. Award winners were presented with the traditional Ro-Man trophy of the LA 3-D Movie Festival, Stereo Sisters’ Golden Mirror Trophy and an assortment of valuable prizes from festival sponsors Berezin Stereo Photography Products, the London Stereoscopic Company, and Lucidcam.
The 3-D Shorts Award winners were selected by audience ballot and were presented to three recipients. The First Place Golden Ro-Man Trophy was presented to ANITYA by Ikuo Nakamura. ANITYA – impermanence in Sanskrit – is one of the essential eastern philosophies. Shot in numerous locations around the world, this film compiles series of continuing human activity, a reminder that all temporal existence will be forgotten without exception.
Second Place was awarded to two films which tied for that honor.STEREO (A LOVE SONG TO 3D) and THE CITY QUAKES, THE SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKES OF 1906 AND 1989, both by Robert Bloomberg. STEREO (A LOVE SONG TO 3D) is a musical tribute to classic 1950s 3-D movies, featuring animation and video set to an original song written and performed by the filmmaker. THE CITY QUAKES is a historical show featuring rare stereo images of the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906, as well as the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
Third Place went to DRIFT by Claudia Kunin. Animated from still photographs, DRIFT attempts to explore the subconscious mind of a woman as she lays somewhere at the borderlands between life and death.
Ikuo Nakamura was also the recipient of this year’s Ray Zone Award for Excellence in 3-DIY for his body of work. Named for festival co-founder Ray “3-D” Zone, who passed away in 2012, the award celebrates what Zone described as “fiercely independent do-it-yourself 3-D filmmaking.” Nakamura is a stereo filmmaker whose award-winning 3-D shows have been presented worldwide. He will receive a 180 degree stereoscopic VR camera courtesy of Lucidcam.
The Stereo Sisters Golden Mirror Award for Excellence in Student 3-D was presented to Andi Wenzel for his work entitled DEADLINE (THE MAGICIAN). Produced as a master’s degree thesis film at Hochschule Mainz in Germany, the film is a scenic 3-D music video for the song Deadline of the rock band January, in the style of Film Noir and Graphic Novels. “A famous magician is eagerly looking for his helper and lover, who disappeared without a trace decades ago after a failed spell.”
