NEW YORK, NY.- Museum of the Moving Image announced the winners of the inaugural Marvels of Media Awards, the country’s very first media awards ceremony, film festival, and exhibition celebrating media-makers on the autism spectrum. The open call for the first edition of this annual program received 3,071 nominations from 117 countries, from which 20 media works were chosen for awards in 12 categories including: Animated Short, Collaborative Innovation, Digital Art, Documentary, Experimental Film, Mockumentary, Narrative Feature, Narrative Short, Series, Video Game, Student Animated Short, and Student Video Game.
"Through the Marvels of Media Awards, the Museum is further affirming our commitment to supporting the creative endeavors and pursuits of neurodiverse media-makers of all ages and backgrounds, and to help forge pathways within the media and entertainment industries through which these makers can have a substantive impact on our culture,” said Carl Goodman, MoMI Executive Director. “We are indebted to our trustee Josh Sapan for conceiving of this initiative and look forward to celebrating the work of the winners and runners up on March 31 and beyond at the Museum.”
The winners were selected by an esteemed panel of judges including Primetime Emmy Award-winning actor Joe Pantoliano; award-winning actor Tony Goldwyn; President of the Jim Henson Foundation Cheryl Henson; journalist Paula Zahn; CEO of Take-Two Interactive Strauss Zelnick; screenwriter/filmmaker Tony Spiridakis; neurodiversity advocate Wendy Belzberg; and former CEO of Crown Media Family Networks Bill Abbott.
Marvels of Media Animated Short Award
Winner: Being a Dog – Felix Swahn
Honorable Mention: Love Everyone with Sylvia – D.J. Svoboda
Honorable Mention: Julia
Marvels of Media Collaborative Innovation Award
Winner: Mythlogic – Exceptional Minds with Doron Ross Tuvia, Eli Gross, Leona Tates, S. Michael Cicerelli, Kyle Payne, Brian Urquhart, Rebecca "Becca" David, Veronica Dolcich, Craig Hills
Marvels of Media Digital Art Award
Winner: (Tending)(to)(Ta) – April Lin 林森
Honorable Mention: Origin of Hair – Carrie Hawks
Marvels of Media Documentary Award
Winner: Art 21 Episode: Kameelah Janan Rasheed: The Edge of Legibility – Carrie Hawks
Honorable Mention: Father of Rodents – Bryn Chainey
Marvels of Media Experimental Film Award
Winner: Prosopagnosia – Steven Fraser
Honorable Mention:Like the Girls Who Wear Pink – Jennifer Msumba
Honorable Mention: Las-NEW – Maxwell James Scheller
Marvels of Media Mockumentary Award
Winner: Satan Cured My Autism – Jackson Mark Tucker-Meyer
Honorable Mention: The Home Office – Directed by Dani Bowman. With Keaton Bicknell, Arturo Brito, Chris Castillo
Marvels of Media Narrative Feature Award
Winner:Sanctuary Dream – Grant Carsten
Marvels of Media Narrative Short Award
Winner: Dak' Toká Taíno (I Am Taíno) (Yo Soy Taíno) – Julio Garay with Alba Garcia-Rivas
Honorable Mention: Boys Don't Wear Dresses – Aloni Schorin and Jason Weissbrod
Marvels of Media Series Award
Winner: As We See It – Sue Ann Pien, Rick Glassman and Albert Rutecki with Jason Katims
Marvels of Media Student Animated Short Award
Winner: Cloud Boy: An Autistic Journey | 2021
Honorable Mention: Ignies et Glacies – Ivette Valencia Franco
Marvels of Media Student Video Game Award
Winner: Surf Hills Story – Kieran Amon
Honorable Mention: Creature Crusade – Leilah Wright
Marvels of Media Video Game Award
Winner: An Aspie Life – Bradley Hennessey
MoMI’s Marvel of Media Awards celebrates these innovative contributions to the fields of film, media, animation, game design and more with a film festival opening on March 31 and running through April 2022.
“I believe Marvels of Media is an important venture into an amazing group of creators,” shares finalist Bradley Hennessey, creator of the game An Aspie Life. “Throughout all media, there are many on the spectrum who work day and night to develop art. The autistic spectrum covers a wide range of individuals, each unique in who they are and how they interact with the world. When this is applied to a creative endeavor, the end result is a representation of who they are. Through this, I hope visitors will gain a better understanding of what it means to be on the spectrum and their perspective on life.”
The exhibition will share the artistry of the Marvels of Media honorees, providing a perspective of media-making through the lens of autism. Seventeen works will be on view, including playable video games and short films ranging in style from experimental to narrative. The works were created by filmmakers, artists, writers, animators, and bloggers on the autism spectrum, some of them students, from many different cultural, social, economic, and artistic backgrounds. This selection of media and objects plays with and reflects conventions, movements, and moments in contemporary moving image creation. The exhibit, organized by curators Sara Guerrero-Mostafa, Miranda Lee, and Tiffany Joy Butler, opens March 31, and will be open to the public Thursday–Sunday (see Museum Hours), for the duration of the festival. See below for a full schedule.
