Camp K Midwest winners celebrated at virtual and live events

Camp K
Kathryn Hempel of Cutters (emcee), Isabella Paulitz of Cutters, Brian Naughton of Cutters, Caralyn Moore of Optimus, Brett Rossiter of Another Country, Charlie Kehoe of Cutters and Craig Duncan of Cutters

The Camp Kuleshov trailer competition for emerging creative artists in post production – aka Camp K – handed out its awards and honors at three events last week, recognizing outstanding achievement in the categories of Editing, Sound Design and Graphics. 

Camp K Midwest celebrations wrapped up with an in-person awards show and party at Tree House in Chicago on Thursday, Nov. 4, hosted by Cutters Studios Editor Kathryn Hempel, who was one of the creators of Camp K.

First Place in Editing went to Caralyn Moore of Optimus for her recasting of the 1967 Mel Brooks comedy The Producers into a Neo-noir genre. Second Place went to Brian Naughton of Cutters Studios, who reworked Quentin Tarantino’s 2009 WWII drama Inglorious Basterds into a study in Sexual Obsession. And Third Place went to Charlie Kehoe of Cutters Studios for turning Fellini’s 8 1/2 into a Filmmaker Fantasy. Honorable Mention went to Isabella Paulitz of Cutters Studios for her version of 13 Going on 30 as a Psychological Drama.

camp K

In Sound Design, First Place went to Brett Rossiter of Another Country for his edge-of-your-seat sound design of a taut scene from the 1953 French thriller The Wages of Fear. Second Place went to Harrison Gill of Optimus for his sound design creation of a scene from the French crime drama Pickpocket.

“There was a palpably happy energy at our Camp K event  as we cheered on our tireless and talented young creative talents while screening their impressive work in editing, sound design and graphics,” said Hempel. “It was beautiful, funny, and sometimes really horrifying — in a good way. I was honored to emcee with my Cutters colleague Craig Duncan, and proud of all the entrants, judges, supporters, and people who worked behind the scenes to make the evening a success. Having started Camp Kuleshov in Chicago over twenty years ago, we have much to smile about and celebrate together in our community. The future looks bright.”

All First Place winners from each chapter, each of whom received a license for Media Composer or Pro Tools, sponsored by Avid, now move on to compete  for The Lev, Camp K’s national Grand Prize, awarded to the top winner in each category. Winners will be announced and saluted during AICP Week in June, 2023. The Lev winners will also take home $1,000, provided by Camp K sponsor  Musicbed + Filmsupply. An AICP Supporting Partner, Musicbed also made selections from its production music library available to entrants free of charge. 

Participation in the Camp K competition was open to junior-level creatives, as well as admin and entry-level employees at AICP member post production and production companies, as well as freelancers and support staff sponsored by member companies. Students and interns sponsored by a member company could also enter Camp K, as well as junior-level employees at music, sound and audio post companies that are members of the Association of Music Producers (AMP).


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