Lion Ark at the 45th NAACP Image Awards
On Friday, February 21st, nominees and guests arrived on the red carpet of the Pasadena Civic Center, were handed cocktails and headed down to the huge, beautifully bedecked dining area. After dinner and wine, the awards began. Quiet, anxious anticipation, then rapturous applause and another winner heading towards the stage.
Then finally, “And the nominees for Outstanding International Motion Picture are Call Me Kuchu, High Tech Low Life, La Playa DC, Lion Ark and War Witch. And the winner is…”
LION ARK AT NAACP GALLERY
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- The Red Carpet at the 45th NAACP Image Awards ceremony
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- The Lion Ark team arriving at the Image Awards ceremony, held at the Pasadena Civic Center. Left to right: Shannon Keith, Gene Blalock, Jan Creamer & Tim Phillips
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- Nominees & guests arriving on the red carpet
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- Lion Ark Director Tim Phillips and Producer Jan Creamer arrive at the Pasadena Civic Center
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- Having cocktails before heading down to the huge, beautifully decorated dining area
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- Tim Phillips & Jan Creamer with Frank Mugisha of “Call Me Kuchu,” also nominated for Outstanding International Motion Picture
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- The Lion Ark team on the red carpet. Left to right: Gene Blalock, Jan Creamer, Tim Phillips & Shannon Keith
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- Another wide shot of the awards ceremony
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- The presenters at the Image Awards ceremony
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- Lion Ark’s table. Left to right: Shannon Keith, Gene Blalock, Eric I. Keyes III (Nominee, Outstanding Performance in Youth Program for “Live Life & Win”), Tim Phillips & Jan Creamer
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- Wide shot of the tables at the NAACP Image Awards ceremony
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- Though War Witch won, it was great to see Lion Ark nominated and thanks to everyone who wished us luck
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- Erica Motolfo-Bura (Nominee, Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series for The Game) with Tim Phillips
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- A closer shot of the presenters during the awards ceremony
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- Wide shot of the red carpet & paparazzi at the NAACP Nominee’s Luncheon (February 8, 2014)
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- Jan looks on as Tim proudly displays his NAACP Image Award nomination certificate during the Nominee’s Luncheon
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- Jan Creamer on the red carpet at the NAACP Nominees Luncheon
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- Lion Ark Associate Producer Jorja Fox (CSI) with Tim Phillips at the NAACP Nominees Luncheon
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- Lion Ark team on the red carpet at Nominee’s Luncheon. Left to right: Lelah Foster (Lion Ark photographer), Tim Phillips, CSI’s Jorja Fox (Associate Producer) & Jan Creamer
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- Jan Creamer & Jorja Fox with Jan’s nomination certificate at the Nominee’s Luncheon
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- Lion Ark’s table at Nominees Luncheon. Left to right: Lawrence Saint Victor (Nominee, Outstanding Actor in a Daytime Drama Series for The Bold & The Beautiful), Jan Creamer, Jorja Fox, Erica Motolfo-Bura (Nominee, Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series for The Game), Tim Phillips & Lelah Foster
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- Lion Ark team with their nomination certificates. Left to right: Lelah Foster, Tim Phillips, Jan Creamer & Jorja Fox
The prestigious Image Awards by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), America’s oldest and largest civil rights organization, celebrates “the outstanding achievements and performances of people of color in the arts, as well as those individuals or groups who promote social justice through their creative endeavors.”
Lion Ark’s nomination put us in heavy-weight company with four films addressing big human rights issues.
Call Me Kuchu: tells the story of the battle to defeat a bill in Uganda threatening to make homosexuality punishable by death; a film that saw its main protagonist murdered during filming.
La Playa D.C.: followed Tomas, an Afro-Colombian teenager who fled the country’s Pacific coast pushed out by the war, facing the difficulties of growing up in a city of exclusion and racism.
High Tech, Low Life: follows the journey of two of China’s first citizen reporters as they travel the country – chronicling underreported news and social issues.
War Witch: Komona, a 14 year old girl, tells her unborn child the story of how at 12 years old she was kidnapped and forced to become a child soldier in Africa.
Indeed, at a glance some may not have seen Lion Ark as an obvious choice but it is a film about people from vastly different backgrounds and many different countries coming together to bring about change. It is a film about cooperation and working for a better world. Lion Ark also shows how animal protection is a part of the fabric of social justice, where human society draws a line as to what is, and is not, acceptable.
It was a huge honor for Lion Ark to be identified in this way by the NAACP and nominated. Indeed we made a little piece of history being the first animal rights film to be nominated.
A week ahead of the awards ceremony, Lion Ark was represented by Tim Phillips (Director), Jan Creamer (Producer), CSI actress Jorja Fox (Associate Producer) and Lelah Foster (Lion Ark photographer) at the 45th NAACP Image Awards Nominees Luncheon in Hollywood. At which a group photograph was taken of all the nominees that has been placed in the US Library of Congress.
On awards night Lion Ark was represented at the ceremony by Jan and Tim again, and Gene Blalock and Shannon Keith, who filmed some of the US scenes that appear in Lion Ark. We enjoyed the food and waited with baited breath as Lion Ark was called out amongst the nominees.
“And the winner is…War Witch”
So the honors went to War Witch, but Lion Ark was in auspicious company and it was a night to proud of.
Click here for more about the NAACP Nominees Luncheon
