The winners of the Chautauqua-Wawasee Fun Film Festival were Annie Morris, left, Diana Gardner and Helen Bushnell. They are shown with Mark Knecht, front, and Jeremy Van Lue. Not pictured is winner Gretchen Kintzel.
Text and photos by Ray Balogh
InkFreeNews
SYRACUSE — More than 50 area residents attended Chautauqua-Wawasee’s Fun Film Festival
Ryan Snider, left, and Matthew Wuthrich receive special recognition for their work in readying the entries and compiling the video anthology for the festival.
Saturday, Aug. 7, at Pickwick Theatre in downtown Syracuse.
The event consisted of a video anthology of the more than 50 home movie submissions by contestants and presentations of awards, including cash prizes for the winners of the four categories: fun with pets, fun with kids, tubing fun and wild card.
Jeremy Van Lue served as Master of Ceremonies and Mark Knecht spearheaded the organization of the event and presented the awards.
Former Wawasee High School students Ryan Snider and Matthew Wuthrich, who will attend Huntington University this fall, were presented with framed copies of the Mail-Journal article featuring their work in compiling, culling and editing the contest entries.
Contestants submitted their entries during a 45-day window ending Thursday, July 29.
Annie Morris, winner of the fun with pets category.
Winners were:
• Annie Morris of Indianapolis, fun with pets, for her footage, compiled throughout the summer, of Sloane Morris, the family dog, jumping off piers and docks into Lake Wawasee.
• Helene Bushnell of Lowell, fun with kids, for her video of her niece, Mackenzie Biancotti, 5, riding her pink battery-powered Jeep, co-piloted by her dog, Gauge, a West Highlander white terrier, on the grounds of Oakwood Park.
Helene Bushnell, with her camera-shy niece, Mackenzie Biancotti, 5, winner of the fun with children category.
• Gretchen Kintzel, tubing fun, for capturing a girl flying off a tube after hitting a wave. Kintzel was not present to accept her award.
• Diana Gardner of Marion, wild card, for filming a squirrel “really enjoying” eating feed near the circle in front of the Oakwood Resort.
Diana Gardner, winner of the wild card category.
A more comprehensive account of the event will appear in the
Wednesday, Aug. 11, edition of The Mail-Journal.