Always Late TV and Movie Awards Returns to the LC Stage for a Second Year By Kal Weiss
The Always Late TV and Movie Awards returned for another run at Lewis and Clark in the Hatheway Cultural Center and Trimpe Hall on Saturday, March 23 and Sunday, March 24.
On March 23, ALTV hosted a screening event in Hatheway and Trimpe that ran from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Many independently made films were screened; some local, national, and even international films were shown. Many genres had their chance to shine during the screenings, including comedy, horror/thriller, drama, and action. Documentaries and music videos were also shown. These genres were each honored in the main event.
There was an improv comedy workshop in Trimpe from 3 to 5 p.m. also on March 23. It was hosted by actor and former host Caterina Clayton, who gave personalized advice to people of all ages on all things humor.
The festivities extended to the next day; Steve Ewing from the Urge — a band that is very well known and loved in the Metro-East area — played with his personal band, the Steve Ewing Band. There was a red carpet available for attendees to get their pictures taken before the awards presentation commencement.
The award ceremony was hosted by returning hosts from last year, Mary Jayne and Ashley Pryor. Members of L&C’s own faculty were speakers at the ceremony, including President Dr. Ken Trzaska, Elizabeth Grant, Peter Hussey, and Jen Cline.
The founder of ALTV, Kevin Edwards, is an LC alum. Edwards directed “Schmetterling” and “Bonnie Conway, P.I.” that were both shown at the screenings, which have given him a combined total of eleven international awards. Twenty-one categories were honored during the ceremony for both short and feature films. The festival had international reach; directors from all parts of the world flew in to be able to witness the ceremony.
Steve Higgins, an English professor at L&C, was also one of the presenters. “I wasn’t involved in the awards the first time around, but I saw how much fun the awards from last year seemed to be and definitely felt like I had missed out,” he said. “Thankfully, Kevin Edwards reached out to me this year to ask me to help him with the judging of the submissions.”
“There were over 160 submissions between feature-length films and shorts, and he needed some folks to weigh in on them. I helped Kevin decide which films were worthy of screening at the film festival and worthy of winning accolades at the awards show,” Higgins said. A lot of hard work went into the crafting and execution of the festival.
If you would like to look at the list of nominees and winners, it is available on alwayslatetv.com.