EOFF2020 FESTIVAL AWARDS & WRAP
Eastern Oregon Film Festival celebrated its eleventh annual event, online, this year. The days of October 22-24 were spent by hundreds of online visitors streaming through incredible feature length and short films, live Zoom Q&A’s with filmmakers, and a grip of live music treats from the stage at EOFF’s headquarters (HQ) in downtown La Grande, Oregon.
#EOFF2020 AWARD WINNERS
This year EOFF relied on audience balloting through their virtual platform to tabulate and award viewer’s choice winners.
VIEWERS CHOICE AWARDS
** BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE
RAF
Director – Harry Cepka
** BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
A LIFE’S WORK
Director – David Licata
** BEST NARRATIVE SHORT
IMMORTAL
Director – Natalie Metzger & Robert Allaire
** BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
RECLAMATION: THE RISE AT STANDING ROCK
Director – Michele Noble
FESTIVAL AWARDS
** EOFF SPIRIT AWARD
Marc Chua & Lam Li Shuen – REVOLUTION LAUNDERETTE
** Curator’s Pick . DIRECTOR TO WATCH
Gillian Wallace Horvat – I BLAME SOCIETY
** VIEWER OF THE YEAR * Most Streams Played (51!)
Nicole Thorburn Surber
This year, Eastern Oregon Film Festival engaged viewers and filmmakers from across the globe. With over 3000 film streams in total, EOFF’s creative team produced and delivered 18 livestream broadcasts from the festival’s headquarters, HQ, in downtown La Grande, Oregon. The festival hosted Q&A’s and conversations with 15 filmmakers, presented two live music performances and streamed special presentations with local filmmakers and the festival director, who served as MC throughout the event.
Festival director Christopher Jennings said ‘It was an honor to connect with so many brilliant talents, albeit from far away. Our creative team worked hard to bring a taste of Eastern Oregon to the table and keep the festival’s spirit of connection and collaboration alive.” This sentiment was echoed by Filmmakers in a number of social media posts and correspondence following the weekend events.
‘Thanks for all the work I’m sure went into figuring this year’s fest; for fighting to create something special to escape into; for fostering a sense of community among strangers; for showcasing truly independent work that often gets overlooked. I cannot tell you how much we all appreciate it!’
– Ryan Brown, Director – Tired Eyes
‘You folks ran a great festival! The best virtual one I’ve been a part of. Bravo!’
– David Licata, Director – A Life’s Work
‘ Your thoughtful and completely insanely excellent filmmaker package made me feel like I was at EOFF!! You all rock!’
– Michele Noble, Director – Reclamation: The Rise at Standing Rock
EOFF is looking forward to building a more robust annual program while achieving its goal of equipping The Liberty Theatre with a state of the art cinema system to unveil October 21-23 2021 in La Grande, Oregon for the Twelfth Annual Eastern Oregon Film Festival.
To support EOFF, get more information and to sign up for email updates visit eofilmfest.com or follow on social media @eofilmfest.