RiverRun announces new Spark Award for 2012!

This year, for the first time ever, we decided to highlight three promising artists whose careers are electrifying audiences in all spheres of the motion picture world to be the inaugural recipients of RiverRun’s new 2012 Spark Award. The Spark Award was created as a natural extension of the Festival’s Altered States: New Directions in American Cinema program, which debuted last year, and seeks to recognize exciting new filmmakers and performers who are just on the cusp of gaining wider recognition for their remarkable talents.

Starring turns from Brady Corbet and Amy Seimetz anchored two of the Altered States films screened a year ago (Two Gates of Sleep and The Off Hours, respectively), in fact, and David Oyelowo’s impressive list of credits over the last few years has been impossible to ignore.  These artists are absolute dynamos of creative energy and are all making outstanding films that are catalysts for audience and critical conversation throughout the world-class festivals they appear at. When thinking about films that truly embody the daring ethos of independent filmmaking right now, these three just shared a knack for always being at the epicenter of the discussion.

The trio will be honored at an exclusive VIP-only event on the evening of Friday, April 20^th, during the second weekend of RiverRun.

Spark Award Honorees 

Brady Corbet made his film debut at the age of fifteen opposite Holly Hunter and Evan Rachel Wood in 2003's Thirteen.  He landed roles as Brian Lackey in Mysterious Skin and as Alan Tracy in Thunderbirds. He also has guest starred on the television shows Greetings From Tucson, Oliver Beene and The King Of Queens, and until recently was best known for his role as Derek Huxley on the fifth season of the FOX drama 24.  His list of credits includes prominent roles in Michael Haneke’s Funny Games, 2011 RiverRun selection Two Gates of Sleep, and the critically acclaimed Martha Marcy May Marlene and Melancholia, the latter directed by Lars von Trier.  His most recent film, Simon Killer, premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and was acquired by IFC for distribution.

David Oyelowo immediately impressed theatre audiences as King Palasgus in The Suppliants at the Gate Theatre and in the title role of Henry VI, becoming the first black actor to play an English king for the Royal Shakespeare Company.  Beyond theatre he starred in the BAFTA award winning series Spooks/MI:5 playing Danny Hunter, and won the Royal Television Society Award for Best Actor and was also nominated for a BAFTA for the same role for his work on Small Island. More recently, David was seen in the summer blockbuster Rise of the Planet of the Apes alongside James Franco, the critically lauded The Help and Ava DuVernay’s Middle of Nowhere.  David will be seen in several highly-anticipated films this year, including the George Lucas produced Red Tails, as well as alongside Tom Cruise in One Shot, opposite Nicole Kidman and Matthew McConaughey in The Paperboy and in Steven Spielberg's highly anticipated Lincoln with Daniel Day-Lewis and Tommy Lee Jones.

Amy Seimetz grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida, and studied film, English literature and art history at FSU and NYU. She has been a producer on several notable film projects, including The Dish and the Spoon, Barry Jenkins’ Medicine for Melancholy and Joe Swanberg’s Silver Bullets.  As an actress she has appeared in Swanberg’s Alexander the Last and Silver Bullets, Lena Dunham’s Tiny Furniture, David Mitchell’s Myth of the American Sleepover, and starred in 2011 RiverRun selection The Off Hours, Adam Wingard's A Horrible Way to Die and You're Next, and Shane Carruth's upcoming Upstream Color. She also wrote and directed a feature film entitled City on a Hill, which took part in the 2009 IFP Director’s Labs. Her latest directorial effort Sun Don’t Shine premiered last month to outstanding reviews at the 2012 SXSW Film Festival.

Two Gates of Sleep

The Off Hours