Virtusos Award

VIRTUOSOS AWARD

Each year the festival salutes a group of actors who've given breakthrough performances in the past year, and are predicted to have a substantial impact in the industry. The Virtuosos Award took place on Sunday night, February 9th, and is one of the most fascinating of the big award events. There were originally 8 actors scheduled to be honored--meaning a LOT of research and preparation for the TEEN PRESS reporters assigned to that night--and then there were 3 more added! Team 53 veteran reporters IRIS & WYNNE rose to the occasion! ARIANA GRANDE, CLARENCE MACLIN, FERNANDA TORRES, JOHN MAGARO, MIKEY MADISON, MONICA BARBARO, SEBASTIAN STAN, and SELENA GOMEZ attended the event, but honorees HARRIS DICKINSON, KIERAN CULKIN, and KARLA SOFÍA GASCÓN did not.

Photo courtesy of SBIFF

ARIANA GRANDE

IRIS & WYNNE were ready, but still gobsmacked, when they got a chance to meet with music artist, actor & Virtuoso honoree ARIANA GRANDE on the red carpet, and talk to her about her preparation for & role in "Wicked".

SEBASTIAN STAN

In a brief encounter on the red carpet, WYNNE & IRIS learned something about being yourself from actor & Virtuoso honoree SEBASTIAN STAN from the film "The Apprentice".

JANE LYNCH

Amid the fan noise from the street, IRIS & WYNNE got a great interaction with the ever-fun JANE LYNCH, the presenter of the evening's awards, on the red carpet of the Virtuosos.

MIKEY MADISON

Red Carpet veteran reporters WYNNE & IRIS got to ask Virtuoso MIKEY MADISON from the film "Anora" about her horseback riding, how the industry has changed, and...a homework assignment!

CLARENCE "DIVINE EYE" MACLIN

"If you can find something that you love to do, it won't be work...but make sure it contributes to society, and makes us whole." IRIS & WYNNE got some very good moments with Actor, Writer, Producer CLARENCE MACLIN, from the film "Sing Sing".

JOHN MAGARO

Actor & Virtuoso Honoree JOHN MAGARO from the film "September 5" gave Teen Press reporters WYNNE & IRIS some perspective on the news industry (and rotary vs. cellular phones 😎) in their red carpet conversation.

NOREE VICTORIA

Reporters IRIS & WYNNE got their first interview of the night on the Red Carpet for Virtuosos with NOREE VICTORIA, the director of the film "An Arrangement" which is, in Noree's words "...a mirror of society right now". She also gave them a great homework assignment.

BEN SMITH,
PIP

"Do things that scare you", that was the parting advice of Director PIP, of the film "Twain". WYNNE & IRIS learned about some of the challenges of his mystery film featuring identical twins (played by the same person) and got multiple homework assignments from Pip & Producer BEN SMITH.

GABRIELE FABBRO, FRANCES SHOLTO-DOUGLAS

"It's a movie about truffles, family, and dogs...little dogs, finding truffles." With a little help from Actor FRANCES SHOLTO-DOUGLAS, the Italian Director of "Trifole" GABRIELE FABBRO, gave a very humorous interview (after some chagrin at his initial joke) with IRIS & WYNNE on the red carpet of Virtuosos, ending with "You are great...I'm so happy."

MAX KARPMAN, KAYLEE SMITH, FRANCESCA HILL

One of the Director, MAX KARPMAN's teachers, Mark Fogel, a longtime overseas teacher, got swept up in a Russian anti-American net, and has been in prison for several years, but seemingly ignored during recent prisoner swaps. Mark and Producers KAYLEE SMITH, FRANCESCA HILL told reporters WYNNE & IRIS that they are trying to bring awareness of his plight with this documentary.

**Amazingly, two days after the interview, Mark Fogel was released by Russia!**

Story courtesy New York Times

GREGORY NAVA

"When you make a film, you want to want to make a film that has humanity." IRIS & WYNNE got to take part in a rewarding conversation with one of the industry experts that the festival asks to evaluate films for awards, SBIFF Juror GREGORY NAVA.

JEFF CHRISTIAN, AMANDA CHRISTIAN

"You guys are doing what's important: You're asking questions." WYNNE & IRIS found out about a scary topic from a filmmaking duo whose work was not in the festival, that of the effect of "forever chemicals" on our food & environment--JEFF & AMANDA CHRISTIAN, and their film "Sludge: A PFAS Uprising".

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