Josh Funk Wins Best of Festival Award at Sundial Film Festival with 'The Spaceman'

Josh Funk and his brother Jordan Funk with awards for The Spaceman.

On March 5th, film director Josh Funk won top honors at the 2016 Sundial Film Festival with Best of Festival and Best Narrative Film awards. The awards were given for Funk’s imaginative sci-fi short film The Spaceman, created with giant cardboard sets, stop-motion puppets, and old school techniques.

REDDING, CA (PRWEB) MARCH 09, 2016

The Spaceman features an exceptional use of practical effects including stop-motion animation, miniatures, animatronics, and elaborate sets made of cardboard. The film stars Funk’s brother Jordan Funk, who builds a cardboard spaceship, travels to an alien planet, and fights a stop-motion monster. This black and white short was filmed in the Northern California locations of Chico, Forest Ranch, and Fern Canyon.

“I am so honored to be a part of the Sundial Film Festival and to take home these film awards. It’s surreal to see how this small Kickstarter funded sci-fi film has grown to reach so many people,” said Funk.

Organized and presented by the Active 20-30 Club of Redding Foundation, The Sundial Film Festival, in its 8th year, showcases the talent and diversity of filmmakers and photographers at the beautifully restored Cascade Theater in Redding, California.

All entries were judged for creativity, quality, and originality by a diverse jury comprised of independent filmmakers, critics, and educators in the film industry. Proceeds from the event went towards serving the Redding community's greatest asset –local children.

Short film festival headlines Chico's El Rey Theater →

By Jerry Olenyn, jolenyn@krcrtv.com

Sixty short films will be showcased at the El Rey Theater in Chico this weekend.

The filmmakers come from all parts of the world, including a few in the Northstate, like Chico's Josh Funk whose 12-minute film "The Spaceman" took two years to complete.

"In my case, it was all the special effects and the stop-motion animation that I did," said Funk. "It took 24 pictures for every second of film that you see whenever there's a puppet involved."

Funk was a cell phone sales representative for eight years before focusing on film making. His story is like many of the other filmmakers, who will show off their efforts this weekend, hoping to one day direct feature films like some of Hollywood's greatest auteurs.

One of the festivals organizers said film lovers will see a large quantity and quality of films over the next three days.

"There are many good films," said Renee Boyd. "There's action, comedy, drama, documentary and animation."

"There are so many beautiful films with good stories," she said.

Tickets are $10 per day or $20 for a three day pass. For more information about the film festival, click here.

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Josh Funk Wins Award in the IndieFEST Film Competition for Sci-Fi Short Film 'THE SPACEMAN' →

Press Release: PRWEB.COM

Independent film director Josh Funk has won a prestigious Award of Excellence from The IndieFEST Film Awards for his stop-motion and live-action sci-fi adventure film The Spaceman.

(Chico, CA, May 18th, 2015) – Independent film director Josh Funk has won a prestigious Award of Excellence from The IndieFEST Film Awards. The award was given for Funk’s exciting sci-fi short film The Spaceman, which was partially funded through Kickstarter.

The Spaceman features an exceptional use of practical effects such as stop-motion animation, miniatures, animatronics, and elaborate sets made of cardboard. The film stars Funk’s brother Jordan Funk, who builds a cardboard spaceship, travels to an alien planet, and fights a stop-motion monster. This black and white short was filmed in the Northern California locations of Chico, Forest Ranch, and Fern Canyon.

“I made The Spaceman to relive my childhood experience of building spaceships out of cardboard. I am so honored to win this award and excited to share my quirky creation to a larger audience,” said Funk.

In winning an IndieFEST Film Award, Josh Funk joins the ranks of other high-profile winners of this internationally respected award including Liam Neeson as the narrator of Love Thy Nature, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tom Hall for Generosity of Eye, searing expose Davids and Goliath by Leon Lee and European heavyweight Roland Joffee for The Lovers starring Josh Hartnett and Bollywood star Bipasha Basu. Rick Prickett, who chairs The IndieFEST Film Awards, had this to say about the latest winners, “The IndieFEST is not an easy award to win. Entries are received from around the world from powerhouse companies to remarkable new talent. The IndieFEST helps set the standard for craft and creativity. The judges were pleased with the exceptional high quality of entries. The goal of The IndieFEST Film Awards is to help winners achieve the recognition they deserve.”

Watch The Spaceman Now

Art at the Matador marks 5th year Friday and Saturday

by Linda Watkins-Bennett

Click to see interview

The 5th Annual Art at the Matador Motel kicks off Friday, May 8th at the Matador Motel on the Esplanade in Chico.

75 artists will convert 14 rooms into imaginative art galleries ... transforming them ... and there will also be more than 20 booths outdoors. Friday you'll find hand mixed margaritas, jazz music and fire dancing from 4 - 9 p.m. and Saturday May 9th the event continues for families from 2-9 p.m. There will be food and all types of entertainment, and arts and crafts for youngsters, souvenir penny stamping, and a cantina.

The featured up and coming artist this year is Josh Funk, a film maker and stop motion animator. His exhibit will include the puppets featured in his films "Wormholes" and "The Spaceman". And he also has a stop motion animation station for people to try their hand at the intricate, time consuming art.

For More information visit the Art at the Matador event facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ArtFiestaAtTheMatador?fref=ts.