‘Holy Emy’ Takes Top Prize at LAGFF’s Orpheus Awards

Peter Caranicas
·2 min read
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The 16th Los Angeles Greek Film Festival announced the winners of the Orpheus Awards on May 15, with director Araceli Lemos’ “Holy Emy” taking home the award for best fiction feature film.

The prizewinners were revealed at the fest’s red carpet closing night and Orpheus Awards celebration at the Silver Screen Theatre in the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood.

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Festival Director Aris Katopodis opened the sold-out ceremony with praise for the live event, which went virtual in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. “What an exceptional Festival week we have had,” he said. “We are back and we are better than ever.” The ceremony was co-hosted by Lia Bozonelis and Alex Kalognomos.

LAGFF 2022 consisted of 64 films, including works by 25 female filmmakers. It showcased eight world premieres, five international premieres, seven North American premieres, nine West Coast premieres, 13 U.S. premieres, 10 Los Angeles premieres and 14 animated films. The virtual portion of the Festival continues through May 22th, including on-line access internationally to 50% of the films.

Full list of Orpheus winners:

FEATURE FICTION

Best Film Winner: “Holy Emy,” by Araceli Lemos

Best Director: Araceli Lemos, for “Holy Emy”

Best Performance: Angeliki Papoulia, for her role in “Patchwork”

Honorable Mention: Nikos Zegkinoglou, for his role in “18”

Honorable Mention: Aris Servetalis, for his supporting role in “Pack of Sheep”

Audience Award: “Smyrna, My Beloved”

DOCUMENTARY FILM

Winner: “The Students of Umberto Primo,” by Alessandra Maioletti

Special Jury Award: “How to Train an Antihero,” by Yannis Bletas

Special Jury Award: “Memento,” by Nikos Ziogas

Audience Award: “Outer Space Kids”

SHORT FILM

Winner: “To Vancouver,” by Artemis Anastasiadou

Honorable Mention: “Brutalia, Days of Labour,” by Manolis Mavris

Honorable Mention: “Memoir of a Veering Storm,” by Sofia Georgovassili

Audience Award: “Nexting,” by Karina Logotheti

ANIMATION

Winner: “From The Balcony,” by Aris Kaplanidis, Elias Roumeliotis

Honorable Mention: “Afterimage,” by Antonis Doussias

IPDF AWARD

Winner: “Glory B” – Director, Konstantinos Antonopoulos; Producer, Fani Skartouli

Special Mention: “Shibboleth” – Writer/Director, Alexandra Matheou

At the event, DJ Yiannis Markoulakis played music, Pietris Bakery provided Greek cuisine and Kástra Elión Vodka supplied the cocktails. LAGFF sponsors include: California Arts Council; Los Angeles County Department of Arts & Culture; Department of Cultural Affairs, City of LA; GPK & Associates (The Kolovos Family); West Coast Investors (The Argyropoulos Family); AT&T; with special thanks to HFPA, Elios Charitable Foundation, European Language Movies in America (ELMA), and Nick Spirtos.

Pictured above: Partial group of Orpheus Award winners. Photo by Urbanite Media.

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