FSU Art Alumni Jim Vendiola Named Winner of “NewNarratives” Inaugural Grand Award 2021
FSU Art Alumni and Filmmaker Jim Vendiola has been honored with the NewFilmmakers Los Angeles and WarnerMedia OneFifty NewNarratives inaugural grand award for 2021 and will receive $40,000 for the development of his latest narrative feature film “Argus”…Vendiola was the winner among over 200 entries ranging from feature narrative, documentary, and animated works as well as scripted and unscripted series. Applicants hailed from over 40 countries and 6 continents.
Vendiola’s “Argus” is the story of a disaffected private eye who is hired to reinvestigate the case of a missing teen long thought to have run away. Shifting POVs between the detective, an obsessive killer, and the pre-abduction life of the victim in question, “Argus” is a subversive, BIPOC, female-driven reimagining of 1970s neo-noirs.
We are thrilled to collaborate with NewFilmmakers LA on this exciting and powerful slate of films. Each project truly captures the powerful, unique, and bold vision from these talented creative teams led by innovative filmmakers, perfectly juxtaposing art, science and culture—which exemplifies what OneFifty is all about,
– Axel Caballero, Head of WarnerMedia OneFifty & Vice President, Artistic and Cultural Innovations.
I’m truly ecstatic and grateful to NFMLA and OneFifty for this incredible opportunity. For years I’ve taken meaningful risks with the form and content of my work, which has been a double-edged sword of maintaining my artistic integrity while being largely ignored by the usual gatekeepers, for telling stories that do not offer tidy conclusions nor lend to homogenous franchises bled of freshness and nuance. I can’t wait to bring this project to audiences hungry for something different, with the support of this amazing program,
– Jim Vendiola
Jim is a Chicago-based writer/director and development exec whose work frequently explores ideas of heartache, longing, liminality, eros and pathos. A three-time Newcity FILM 50 honoree, 3Arts “Make a Wave” grantee, NFMLA alum and Best of NFMLA Awards Nominee, Jim gravitates towards characters and scenarios that subvert genre conventions, tropes, and the gaze historically defined by cishet men and exclusionary models of masculinity. As a Filipino-American with immigrant parents, his work also ponders themes of identity, otherness and alienation.