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2022 Catalyst AWARDS

Awards: 2022

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A QUESTION OF SERVICE

OUTSTANDING SERIES PITCH

A failed missionary jilts his fiancee and unwittingly lands an interpreting job for the agents of MI6. Joseph Gard must grapple with personal conflicts amid a web of espionage that draws him ever deeper.

A QUESTION OF SERVICE

OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES VIDEO

A failed missionary jilts his fiancee and unwittingly lands an interpreting job for the agents of MI6. Joseph Gard must grapple with personal conflicts amid a web of espionage that draws him ever deeper.

SUGAR BABY

OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES VIDEO

A financially desperate young actress in New York engages in mutually beneficial relationships that ultimately make her question how far she will go to get what she wants.

A QUESTION OF SERVICE

OUTSTANDING CINEMATOGRAPHY - Beth Napoli

A failed missionary jilts his fiancee and unwittingly lands an interpreting job for the agents of MI6. Joseph Gard must grapple with personal conflicts amid a web of espionage that draws him ever deeper.

BROWNSVILLE BRED

OUTSTANDING EDITING - Eddie Frente

Set in 1980's Brownsville, Brooklyn, NY at the height of the crack and crime epidemics, a spunky Latina must find her own path as she comes of age to face the grim realities of the deteriorating neighborhood she calls home and the musician father she once idolized.

HUNGER STRIKE AGAINST ECOCIDE

OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY SERIES VIDEO

5 portraits of people from China, France, Lituania and Switzerland join forces on a hunger strike. Each protagonist has their own interests, their own struggles and follow their own reasoning. They don't always agree but they are all fighting for the same thing : criminalize Holcim for Ecocide.

SUGAR BABY

OUTSTANDING COMEDY PERFORMANCE - Keely Bochicchio-Sipos

A financially desperate young actress in New York engages in mutually beneficial relationships that ultimately make her question how far she will go to get what she wants.

A QUESTION OF SERVICE

OUTSTANDING DRAMA ACTOR - Hans Obma

A failed missionary jilts his fiancee and unwittingly lands an interpreting job for the agents of MI6. Joseph Gard must grapple with personal conflicts amid a web of espionage that draws him ever deeper.

CHIQUI

OUTSTANDING DRAMA ACTRESS - Bridgitte Silva

It's 1987. Chiqui and Carlos immigrate from Colombia to New Jersey to find a better life for themselves and their unborn son. Upon their arrival, they quickly realize that the American dream is not as easy to achieve as they thought.

CAMP GREENWOOD

OUTSTANDING COMEDIC ENSEMBLE CAST

A ~magical~ cabin traps six toxic strangers within its property line, where it
will keep them until they learn to accept themselves and each other…

LAST NAME UNKNOWN

OUTSTANDING DRAMA ENSEMBLE CAST

Last Name Unknown is a dramatic series that examines the gripping reality of the growing youth homelessness crisis; as it follows several residents of the Beyond Hope Youth Shelter's harsh, yet hopeful lives of beating the odds, finding their place in society, and living their distant dreams.

DEATH DOULA

OUTSTANDING DRAMA DIRECTOR - Jenna Sutch

Grief-stricken Annie loses her best friend in a car accident and starts experiencing visions of a world beyond the mortal plane. Channelling her newfound abilities, Annie trains to become a DEATH DOULA - haphazardly walking people to the other side.

CAMP GREENWOOD

OUTSTANDING COMEDY DIRECTOR - Kourtney Bell

A ~magical~ cabin traps six toxic strangers within its property line, where it
will keep them until they learn to accept themselves and each other…

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NEPTUNE RISING

OUTSTANDING THRILLER SCRIPT - Maxie Rockymore

Natalie Jackson, a black marine microbiologist on the coast of Nome, Alaska, grieving the loss of her parents, struggles to discover her secret identity as a Russian Super-Agent.

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REDNECK ARMY

OUTSTANDING DRAMA SCRIPT - Mark Brown & Whitni Resides

Based on the forgotten tale of the largest insurrection in U.S. history, husband and father Bill Blizzard and shotgun-wielding Charlotte "Charlie" Kelley lead a bloody clash over workers' rights with a ruthless coal company owner and his hired thugs in 1920 West Virginia.

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WASH YOUR BIRDIE

OUTSTANDING COMEDY SCRIPT - Stephanie Bast

A Catholic school prude at a performing arts college is told her virginity stands in the way of being a great actress, forcing her to choose between her soul and Broadway.

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CRASH PUNKS

OUTSTANDING INNOVATION - Grace Ng

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VICTORIAN LADIES

OUTSTANDING SOCIAL MEDIA SERIES

Abigail, Beatrice, Caroline and Daphne ruffle some 19th-century feathers.

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SISTERS OF GRENDEL

OUTSTANDING LITERARY WORK - Susan Thurston

OF THE COMICS

OUTSTANDING PODCAST

Comics Unleashed + The Actors Roundtable + Clusterfest’s Up Next = Of The Comics. A diverse standup comedy show to highlight underrepresented & overlooked comedians through their stories & standup comedy about their lives, journeys, & impactful societal issues.

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ALL THAT GLITTERS

OUTSTANDING TABLE READ - Susan Marks

Quintessential 195O’s housewife, Grace Whitmore discovers a murdered young woman in the pristine suburban town of New Rochelle, New York. Grace’s own investigation into the murder leads to the discovery of a sadistic Nazi doctor hiding in plain sight and the subsequent unraveling of her own life.

LOCALLY GROWN COMEDY

OUTSTANDING MINNESOTA SERIES

Located in Minneapolis, MN, this comedy sketch show is female-led, features a diverse group of creators and is here to make you f*cking laugh.

2021 Catalyst AWARDS

Circus Person

Best of Festival

Ava (Britt Lower) is a square. When her fiancé admits to loving the free spirited Luna, Ava joins a local circus in an act of wild abandon. But Ava’s heartache isn’t easily ignored, and feeds her fear that she’s not cut out for being “wild too”.

The Come Up

Outstanding Drama Series

An inspiring limited series following three Chicago high schoolers who use slam poetry to navigate the outcomes of a tragic event.

Darryl.

Outstanding Comedy Series

Darryl Walker is a lost soul with a handlebar moustache. An aspiring long distance runner, he recently collapsed during his latest marathon. A YouTube video of his efforts went viral and now Darryl's an internet sensation for all the wrong reasons.

A Handful of Rust

Outstanding Short Drama Series

A Handful of Rust is a volatile coming of age story about redefining life after death, salvaging beauty from decay, and collaborative music-making as a vessel for perseverance through the continuous onslaught of harsh realities.

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If I'm Alive Next Week

Outstanding Short Comedy Series

When a foul-mouthed, 80-year-old grandma gets dumped and booted from her boyfriend's brownstone, she's forced to return to the rent-stabilized apartment housing her broke-ass, ungrateful kids. An irreverent meditation on aging that asks: can you really reimagine your life on the cusp of its twilight?

Dear Brown People

Outstanding Documentary

Dear Brown People debates the need for and practices of the “racial courts”, so-called “verification boards”, in Brazil, whose purpose is to verify the color, race, and ethnicity of candidates who are applying for affirmative action and, in particular, the systematic discrimination against mixed-race people in this process.

Progeny

Outstanding Sci-Fi

When a blue-collar man is forcibly implanted with his alien boss's parasitic offspring, he asks his wife to help him remove the parasite -- a dangerous and forbidden act that puts their marriage -- and their lives -- at risk.

The Curious World of Linda

Outstanding Animation

Linda lives in a Curiosity Shop and loves going on amazing adventures. Linda doesn't take on these adventures alone. Her best friend Louie, will always be there with her. In her imagination, Linda can be anything.

Swish

Outstanding Reality

Swish is a reality show that serves as a vehicle to take the audience into the streets and to give an intimate look into a city’s urban culture. In nearly every major metropolitan area in the world, people can be found playing basketball in public courts.

It's What She Would Have Wanted

Outstanding Acting Ensemble

Maggie welcomes four of her oldest friends back home after the unexpected death of one of their own. She convinces them to fulfill a childhood pact - destroy all evidence of their friend’s most embarrassing secrets.

Rafael Franco (Adjunto)

Outstanding Drama Actor

A struggling artist in Chicago battles becoming a junkie again as a hurricane strikes his native Puerto Rico, while a new job forces him to overcome his public speaking fears.

Ireon Roach (The Come Up)

Outstanding Drama Actress

An inspiring limited series following three Chicago high schoolers who use slam poetry to navigate the outcomes of a tragic event.

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Peter Friedman (If I'm Alive Next Week)

Outstanding Comedy Actor

When a foul-mouthed, 80-year-old grandma gets dumped and booted from her boyfriend's brownstone, she's forced to return to the rent-stabilized apartment housing her broke-ass, ungrateful kids. An irreverent meditation on aging that asks: can you really reimagine your life on the cusp of its twilight?

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L.J. Johnson (Breakdowns)

Outstanding Comedy Actress

Breakdowns is a mockumentary style digital series about Patty Lee Casting, a Minneapolis-based film and commercial casting office that pines for the good old days when the local film industry was booming.

Gretl Claggett (Stormchaser)

Outstanding Writing

All Bonnie Blue ever wanted was to chase tornadoes with her Dad. But dreams die with time. Now, she’s become a different kind of storm chaser — hawking roofing, siding and storm doors “door-to-door” for her charismatic boss, Flip Smyth: a cult-like father figure to Bonnie and his tribe of young sales bucks.

Star Victoria (La Ruta)

Outstanding Directing

How far would you go for a better life? Lucia crosses the Suchiate river with her daughter Carmen into Mexico, heading for the U.S. border. While traveling, she meets Matias, an offhanded father, making the trek with his son, Nicolas.

Gregory Winter (Oh My Stars)

Outstanding Cinematography

OH MY STARS is a drama set In the days of the Great Depression. A disfiguring factory accident and a miserable home life compel a young woman to leave Kentucky for San Francisco. Her plan: to be the second suicide off the Golden Gate Bridge.

Paul Kakert & Justin Norman (Complete Bull)

Outstanding Editing

A marketing executive who reluctantly joined her father’s bull-semen business seeks a way back to the city, but both she and her rural hometown face an unexpected upheaval after the arrival of hundreds of relocated immigrants from the nation’s water-deprived coastal cities.

The Trial of Jeff David

Outstanding Drama Podcast

A recently freed slave and his determined white lawyer must work together to prove his innocence after being accused of the bloody murders of his former masters.

Superhuman Public Radio

Outstanding Comedy Podcast

Superhuman Public Radio a comedy audio drama about a publicly funded radio station (ahem, NPR) In a world where Superheroes are not only real, but central to American life. SPR is an immersive experience bringing you news, ads, music and slice of life stories that explore the unexplored comers of the superhero world. Over the course of the season, the news programs develop season-long stories of alien deportations, genetic data breaches, corporate greed and stolen identities while our programming blocks explore more intimate, personal stories of people in every facet of the super world. Or as we say: "the stories that fall between the panels."

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Leading Edge

Outstanding Drama Script

Rachel Su, an edgy Chinese tech prodigy in Silicon Valley, has invented a disruptive energy technology that could eliminate much of the world's need for oil, and solve global warming. But her technology puts Rachel on the razor's edge between those who want to exploit it, and the companies and countries who will do anything to stop it. A one-hour Asian female led drama similar tonally to "Billions", "Scandal", "Halt and Catch Fire", "Alias" and "Mr. Robot".

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Canusa Street

Outstanding Comedy Script

Single Cam/Half Hour: In a small town cut in half by the Vermont/Quebec border, a jaded US Border Patrol Agent struggles to stave off boredom while maintaining a fierce rivalry with her twin sister in the Canadian Mounties. “BROOKLYN NINE-NINE” meets “PARKS & REC”

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American Virtuosa

Outstanding Drama Pitch

American Virtuosa is an hour-long historical drama limited series based on the life of Amy Beach, America’s first successful woman composer. It’s the story of a young prodigy in nineteenth-century Boston who must fight gender barriers and her own family to follow her dream of being a world-famous musician. The series is a “feminist Amadeus” comprising of 6-8 episodes that are tonally similar to The Queen’s Gambit and visually rich as a nod to Amy’s synesthesia—her experience of music as color.

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Mixed Signals

Outstanding Comedy Pitch

Mixed Signals is an absurd comedy that deep-dives into the biracial experience. The story centers Mak, a 24 year old mulatto woman back in her hometown of Kansas City trying to reinvent her career & restart her childhood friendships. Mak, with the help of her Black & White Consciences that only she and the audience can see, must navigate her evolving creative & racial identity in an unsupportive environment or risk falling into a cycle of mediocrity she's worked her whole life to escape.

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Breakdowns

Outstanding Minnesota Project

Breakdowns is a mockumentary style digital series about Patty Lee Casting, a Minneapolis-based film and commercial casting office that pines for the good old days when the local film industry was booming.

2019 Catalyst AWARDS

Best of Festival
“Work/Friends”
Director: Rodrigo Garcia
Writer: Karen Graci
Producer: Dave Hill

Outstanding Comedy Series
"This Isn't Me"
Director: Adrian Elliot
Writer: Ben Kawaller
Producer: Lauren Finerman

Outstanding Drama Series
"Home Turf"
Director: Mara Joly
Writer: Mara Joly
Producer: St Laurent TV

Outstanding Short Comedy Series
"Doxxed"
Director: Elaine Loh
Writer: Elaine Loh
Producer: Mary Lou Belli & Mandy Jane Turpin

Outstanding Short Drama Series
"Dad Man Walking"
Director: Clare Cooney
Writer: John O’Brien
Producer: Jimmy Boratyn

Outstanding Podcast Series

"Take It With You"

Writer/Producer: Blake Thomas

Outstanding Comedy Actor
"This Isn't Me"
Actor: Ben Kawaller
Director: Adrian Elliot
Writer: Ben Kawaller
Producer: Lauren Finerman

Outstanding Comedy Actress
"Pre-Mortem"
Actress: Ani Tatintsyan
Director: Danny Simonzad
Writer: Danny Simonzad & Ani Tatintsyan
Producer: Danny Simonzad & Ani Tatintsyan

Outstanding Drama Actor
"The System"
Actor: Akintola Jiboyewa
Director: Michael Cruz
Writer: Howard Bowler & John Mayer
Producer: Michael Romero

Outstanding Drama Actress
"Chosen"
Actress: Alison Jaye
Director: Daniel Pfeffer
Writer/Producer: Michael Goitanich

Outstanding Comedy Script
"Mr. Trivia"
Writer: Wendy Braff

Outstanding Drama Script
"Rust”
Writer: Justin Moran

Outstanding Cinematography
“Chosen”
Cinematographer: Ryan Z. Emanuel
Director: Daniel Pfeffer
Writer/Producer: Michael Goitanich

Outstanding Writing
"Scribbles"
Writer: Brandon Garegnani
Director: Lynnsey Ooten
Producer: Jeane Reveendran

Outstanding Directing
"Home Turf"
Director: Mara Joly
Writer: Mara Joly
Producer: St Laurent TV

Outstanding Editing
"The System"
Editor: Oliver Parker
Director: Michael Cruz
Writer: Howard Bowler & John Mayer
Producer: Michael Romero

Outstanding Pitch
"Georgi & the Bot"
Writer: Jade Daugherty & Fred Soligan

 

Outstanding Documentary
"Beneath the Ink"
Director/Producer: Cy Dodson

Outstanding Reality Series
"Run"
Producer: Ana Breton, Genevieie Thiers, Victoria Elena Nones, Samantha Bee
Writer: Ana Breton

Outstanding Animation
"Starship Goldfish"
Director: Jason Weight
Writer: Jason Weight
Producer: David Blance

Outstanding Minnesota Project

"Jeffrey T. Larson"

Director/Writer: Joe Hawkins

Producer: East Oaks Studio

Outstanding Short Film
"Lose It"
Director: Maximilian Clark
Writer: AJ Taylor
Producer: AJ Taylor

Best Breakout Creators (Influencer)
Producers: Sam and Colby

Best Breakout Series (Influencer)
"Challenge Accepted"

2018 Catalyst AWARDS

Best of Festival - 88

Best Drama Series - Currency

Best Comedy Series - Filth City

Best Minisodic Drama - Revenge Tour

Best Minisodic Comedy - Susaneland

Best Drama Actress - Vongai Shava

Best Drama Actor - Colman Domingo

Best Comedy Actress - Caroline Parsons

Best Comedy Actor - Tommy Kang

Best Short Film - Monday

Best Editing - Adventures of Brobot Johnson

Best Directing - Yair Valer

Best Writing - Stephen Ohl

Best Cinematography - Avenues

Best Reality - Charlie Bee Company

Best Documentary - Jacks & Jills

Best Drama Script - Near Death

Best Comedy Script - Not Liz

Best Podcast - Yarn Story

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