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Jazz Guitarist/TV Director Kerilie McDowall's “In the Zone: Rick Kilburn,” Receives 12 Awards, 10 noms

Humbled and honoured to finally announce her short film results, first-time short documentary film director Kerilie McDowall was surprised to discover that she had won an award for Best Director from the Seoul Short Film Festival in South Korea for her short film, "In the Zone: Rick Kilburn." Later the short’s star, Rick Kilburn, on IMDB Pro's STARmeter peaked at 11.3+ million hits, and McDowall at 8.7 million while screening in Japan and Hong Kong.

Kerilie released her first short mini-documentary film prior to the COVID-19 pandemic on March 17, 2020, at Shaw Spotlight in Nanaimo, BC, Canada with the assistance of Todd Jones, Jocelyn Matwe, and the Shaw Spotlight television team. Kerilie has been mentored in television directing, hosting, and producing for 7 years by Shaw Spotlight as a volunteer.

Kerilie’s film documents the life and career of multi-JUNO/East/West Coast Award-winning Canadian jazz bassist and producer Rick Kilburn, who has performed with artists ranging from Chilliwack and Mose Allison to Dave Brubeck and Chet Baker. Add in an endlessly lengthy list of others. Kilburn as a bassist-composer, spent over a decade in New York learning the craft of production while performing as a professional jazz bassist with famous US jazz icons.

McDowall, cast and team were thrilled to learn that the film won another Best Short Documentary Award at the Japan International Film Festival in October 2022, for a twelfth award after having received the Best Short Documentary for the 2021 Hong Kong International Short Film Festival.

McDowall has been focused on jazz documenting different recording artists and guests on TV, radio and print. She is a jazz guitarist and was a past bandleader in Vancouver, BC. Kerilie judges the DownBeat Critics Poll and Polaris Music Prize.

The Nanaimo mini-documentary film about Vancouver Island/Vancouver, BC resident jazz bassist/producer/composer Rick Kilburn, “In the Zone: Rick Kilburn,” has achieved a third Hollywood award win. Film director and Canadian Polaris Music Prize juror Kerilie McDowall and her crew won the June 2021 Best Web and New Media award at IndieX Film Fest in Hollywood. Additionally at Hollywood's Indie Short Fest, the short received the June 2021 Outstanding Achievement Award for Best Web and New Media and an Honorable Mention Award for Best Web and New Media at the Independent Shorts Awards in LA in March 2020. Additionally in June/July 2021, the short film won Best Documentary at the London International Monthly Film Festival, Best Director at the Seoul International Short Film Festival, and Best Canadian Documentary for short at the Toronto Independent Film Festival of CIFT.

Kerilie’s 12x award-winning short documentary team has been delighted that the jazz short picked up five awards in June and July 2021. The short picked up three awards in October 2021: Best Documentary Short and Best Inspirational Film double Awards of Prestige from the Vegas Movie Awards. Add an Honorable Mention Award at the Tokyo International Monthly Film Festival and the film was selected by many numerous fests globally. After this, the short received a whopping nine nominations in Berlin including Best Documentary Short, Best Independent Film, Best Zero-Budget Short, Best First-Time / Directorial Debut, Short, Best Documentary Director, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Podcast or Documentary Host/Presenter. The short was also nominated at Paris, France’s Beyond the Curve International Film Festival.

The film was a finalist at the USA’s jellyFEST Season 7, Beyond the Curve International Film Festival in Paris, Roma Short Film Festival, New York International Women Festival, Tokyo International Short Film Festival, and Swedish International Film Festival. The short was selected at the 2021 Milan FFI Film Fest International for Milan, where Kerilie and gifted Technical Supervisor, Shaw Spotlight’s Todd Jones picked up an award for Best Editing of a Short Documentary.

Music fans and those curious can catch more and watch/subscribe to the film once it is posted and re-published on Kerilie’s upcoming website www.kerilie.com. To be able to watch the 12x award-winning documentary short, "In the Zone: Rick Kilburn," opt in at www.kerilie.com to the In the Zone: Rick Kilburn page newsletter mailing list for movie link and news updates.

Contact Kerilie McDowall inthezonerickkilburn@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kerilie

Shaw Spotlight studio photo of Kerilie McDowall by Elizabeth Heinz. Image of Kerilie McDowall with guitar/trophies by Dirk Heydemann of HA Photography.
https://www.haphotography.com/.

New York Poster image of Rick Kilburn by Dane Warren (Original movie poster.) Bass Poster/Filmhaus image of Rick Kilburn, second edition, (left) by Dirk Heydemann of HA Photography.