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Director Arlene Bogna
Paints a Canvas That Heals A PSA wins two awards and screens at a major film festival.
Los Angeles, Ca: For the second year in a row, Arlene Bogna was again recognized by Women In Film at this year's WIF 2007 Crystal + Lucy Awards, an evening that celebrated the "Best of the Best". In the midst of her stirring acceptance speech for a WIF Crystal Award for excellence in film, Academy Award winner Renee Zellwegger graciously acknowledged, "I want to congratulate Director Arlene Bogna for her PSA for A Window Between Worlds, which won the Platinum Aurora Award for Best of Show."
Currently airing on broadcast television, Canvas was produced by the prestigious WIF PSA Program and co-funded by the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. The PSA describes and benefits the arts organization A Window Between Worlds, a national nonprofit with headquarters in LA that uses art workshops as a means to heal mothers and children who have experienced domestic violence.
It was at the 2006 Crystal + Lucy Awards that Bogna's PSA, called Canvas first screened. Since then, Canvas has gone on to win two awards and has been accepted in the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival, where it will be screened next month. [Please see info below.]
A Window Between Worlds (AWBW) has also recognized Ms. Bogna's work, and subsequently invited her to join their Advisory Circle. Says AWBW Executive Director Cathy Salser, "Canvas so beautifully conveys the essence of A Window Between Worlds, how creative expression can bring healing and hope."
Acting talents include Giselle Tongi [above] as the mother, Manuel Jimenez Jr. [below] as the boy and Anthony Ferranti Jr. as the adult male.
Production began with
Executive Producer
Judith Parker Harris, Producer Erika Gardner, Associate Producer Claudia Zalokar, and writer Julie Nicholsen, and resulted in a 35 millimeter shoot with film provided by Kodak. For a PSA, Canvas has a unique narrative structure, telling the story of a battered woman who finds redemption through art and the process of art making.
Says Bogna, "I'm very interested in complex female characters, and I didn't want to convey a stereotype. We began with the idea that art can heal, and we discovered that the true message is that the soul is beyond abuse."
To view Canvas click here. |
| The Awards |
The Aurora Awards is an indepdendent international competition designed to recognize excellence in the film and video industries. Award: Platinum Aurora Award for Best of Show
The Telly Awards is an international competition that has recognized the best creative work in video and film production. Started 28 years ago, it is the largest and most prestigious award of its kind.
Award: Bronze Telly Award |
| The Festival |
 Founded in 1993, the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival is the largest film festival in the world and hosts events in New York and Los Angeles. Past NYIIFVF festivals have included the work of Abel Ferrara, Andy Garcia, Calista Flockhart, Selma Blair, Ewan McGregor, Dominique Swain, Busy Phillips, Cameron Diaz, Christopher Walken, Daryl Hannah, Eva Herzigova, Guy Pearce, George Clooney, Jennifer Aniston, Matthew Modine, Rod Steiger, Tippi Hedren, Tony Danza, Willem Dafoe and Executive Producer Vin Diesel.
This year's festival takes place in New York City from July 19-26, 2007 at the Village East Cinemas, located at 181 Second Avenue at 12th Street in Manhattan.
Canvas Screening times during the Festival:
Saturday, July 21st
Village East Cinemas
Screen 6, 10:05 p.m.
Sunday, July 22nd
Village East Cinemas
Screen 7, 4:10 p.m.
Thursday, July 26th
Village East Cinemas
Screen 6, 6:10 p.m. |
| More Praise For Canvas |
"A thousand kudos to Arlene Bogna for this beautiful creation!"
Roxanne Lane, PSA Production Program Coordinator
Women In Film | |
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Bio: Director Arlene Bogna |
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Arlene Bogna is an award-winning director. In 2007 she won the Platinum Aurora Award for Best of Show and a Telly Award for the PSA Canvas. [See left column.]
Arlene began her entertainment career in motion graphic design and visual effects and in 2002 was nominated for a Golden Trailer Award in Best Art Direction for her work on the trailer for M. Night Shyamalan's Signs. As an art director in motion picture advertising, she worked on projects for Disney, Paramount, Warner Bros., Pandora, Universal, and Dreamworks.
Ms. Bogna seems to have been born a director. Even as a small child, she would hike out to the Angeles Forest, where she staged and photographed scenes with her casts of dolls and stuffed animals. In high school she became an art major and learned how to film events. She then majored in film and literature at UCLA and spent a year studying cinema and mass media at the Universita di Bologna, Italy.
Her first directorial project, which she also wrote and produced, is the narrative short Patriot Johnny, about an Iraq war veteran who comes home to find that his world has changed. Currently, she is in pre-production on a comedy that she wrote called Whoa Nellie! in which a young woman starts a different life after receiving some dire news.
In 2007 Arlene launched Vista Point Pictures, a post production company that provides creative services for the indie filmmaker. Besides her film directing career, Arlene is an emerging painter and photographer and has been exhibited in Los Angeles at Gallery 825. She is also an artist member of the Los Angeles Art Association.
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