Nelson filmmaker Jackie Atkins is this year’s winnter of the $2,000 Judy Wapp Art Fellowship Award.
The award is to assist her in the production of a short narrative film, “Late Fragment,” that follows the final days of a fictional young Nelson man in palliative care who has elected to undergo Medical Assistance in Dying.
The annual Judy Wapp award is open to residents of the Regional District of Central Kootenay. It was established in honor of the New Denver artist who died in 2024. April 20 was her birthday.
The award is intended for practitioners in any artistic genre, and was offered for the first time last year.
“The jury found Jackie’s film script very moving,” said David Everest, Wapp’s partner of 54 years and one of the organizers of the Fellowship Award.
“We’re looking forward very much to seeing it on the screen.”
Atkins describes her artistic practice as rooted in a fascination with how stories “shape identity, community and our understanding of the world.”
She said her journalist father taught her that stories “are how communities make sense of themselves.”
Her father’s choice of MAiD last December inspired the idea of “Late Fragment,” Atkins said.
Her film’s main character “grapples with saying goodbye to those he loves, including the choir that has become his second family.”
The film includes a choral component, involving Nelson’s Lalin Vocal Ensemble and music director Allison Girvan.
Atkins’ background includes studying filmmaking at Vermont’s Middlebury College and an aboriginal film school, Weengushk Film Institute, on Ontario’s Manitoulin Island.
She was the head writer on “Southern Interior,” a comedy series satirizing life in Nelson.
The inaugural winner of the Judy Wapp Art Fellowship Award was Winlaw playwright Marya Folinsbee.
Applications for the 2027 Fellowship Award will open Jan. 1 and close March 1.
The award is funded by sales of Wapp’s collages.
The art pieces, and prices, can be viewed at https://visualchemy.net/.
Any questions not answered on the website about the award, art purchases, or donations can be directed to wappaward24@gmail.com.
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