There were many smiling faces at the 59th annual regional Emmy Awards Saturday night.
Sponsored by the Chicago/Midwest chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the awards show was streamed live on WGN-TV.com from the Swissotel Hotel.
Both Potenza Productions and Daily Planet Productions, Ltd came away with Emmys.
Potenza — which consists of interim Midwest Independent Film Festival Director and cinematographer Mike Kweilford, producer Mary Kay Cook and director Rocco Cataldo — won Outstanding Achievement for Arts / Entertainment Programming-Segment for their experimental dance film, Emergence.
A jubilant Cook had this to say about the win, “We are thrilled and honored to accept the Emmy for Outstanding Achievement for Arts/Entertainment Programming. This was truly a passion project that was sparked by creative conversations between director Rocco Cataldo and dancer/choreographer Emily Sarkissian.”
She added, “We wanted to evoke emotion through movement and music, within the framework of the immigrant experience. Our crew was fantastic, and NoiseFloor, Beast/Method/Company 3’s participation was instrumental in shaping the final piece. What started out as a desire to try something new and challenge ourselves as artists, turned into a beautiful journey. We could not be more proud and thankful for the amazing collaboration with so many talented members of our Chicago filmmaking community!”
Daily Planet wins with How Do You Find An Angel
Scott Marvel and Daily Planet Productions won in the Outstanding Achievement for Community/Public Service (PSAs) Category for their touching single spot, How do you find an angel? for Imerman Angels, who provides personalized connections that enable one-on-one support among cancer fighters, survivors and caregivers. The spot featured a female jogger running through the woods passing the different stages of cancer treatment from diagnosis to recovery.
Marvel was thrilled with the win, “It’s aways an honor to be able to use the talents we’ve been given to create a piece of art that is going to impact the world positively. We had a vision of creating a piece that could be shared by people fundraising for Imerman. A compelling piece that would move people deeply and hopefully inspire them to support this great cause that Jonny Imerman started 10 years ago. No one reading this will not be affected by cancer. Luckily, Imerman Angels exists to help people through their cancer journey. The thought that they trusted us enough with their brand and then we were recognized by the Emmy Awards, we couldn’t be happier.”
Daily Planet turned to Stir Post for sound design and mix and Sonixphere for the music.
Marvel added this about Michael Gabriele, Daily Planet’s director who helmed the spot, “[Michael] dug really deep on this one and masterfully conveyed one women’s cancer journey. It was a technical shoot, but the final piece was all heart. 100%. And he was so moved by the mission, that he’s run twice for Imerman Angels.”
Comcast Spotlight’s spot for Chicago Athletic Clubs beat out Ogilvy’s fun work for the Chicago Blackhawks in the Outstanding Achievement For Commercials Single Spot category.
Milwaukee’s CI Design’s campaign for the Milwaukee Brewers won out over Schafer Condon Cone’s Cubs campaign in the Outstanding Achievement for Commercials Campaign Category. The Cubs couldn’t’ even catch a break here.
Sadly, wonderful Traffic Reporter, Jenny Milkowski was shut out again in her category. She has now dubbed herself, “The Susan Lucci of Traffic Reporters.” Maybe next year, Jenny. Maybe next year.
A full list of winners can be found here.
Contact Colin Costello at colin@reelchicago.com or follow him on Twitter @colincostello10.
