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‘Centigrade’ Thrills the Leo Awards, Wins Best Short Drama and Best Actor

Published May 25th, 2008 in PR News | No Comments »

Colin Cunningham arrives at the Leo Awards on Saturday with girlfriend Brianne McQuair while ‘Centigrade’ picture editor Jonathan Tyrell (background) looks on. (Photos by Julia Pelish)

Another awards show, another big night for Team Centigrade.

The thriller snagged two more Leo Awards on Saturday night, including Best Short Drama. Colin Cunningham, who won Best Direction on Friday, took home Best Performance by a Male as “Centigrade” came away with five Leos in the Short Drama category during the two-night showcase at the Westin Bayshore in Vancouver.

Producers Madison Graie and Derrick Garland picked up the top category prize for “Centigrade”, which continued its impressive run of achievements.

The film qualified for Academy Awards consideration in March when it won Best Narrative Short at the Cinequest Film Festival. It’s also been selected for screening at Cannes Short Film Corner, the Toronto Film Festival and the Jackson Hole Film Festival, among other places.

“We never expected this,” said Cunningham, who made his directorial debut with this movie. “We hoped and we prayed that we could make a good film and hoped that people would appreciate it, at the most, really. To go where it’s gone. … You know, here’s a little short film and it’s helped break us out of the box a little bit.”

In their two decades of collaboration, Elevation PR clients Cunningham and Graie have relied on toil, teamwork and talent. Their past efforts contributed heavily to the success of “Centigrade”, Graie noted. “We’re very honest. We have an acting background, both of us, we have a critical eye for each other. That becomes invaluable as a working tool,” said Graie, who also starred in “Centigrade”.

The other statues “Centigrade” picked up at the British Columbia Film and Television Industry Awards were for make-up (Jane Dancose) and overall sound (Real Gauvreau) in short drama.

PHOTOS: Colin Cunningham shows his appreciation for his Leo Award for Best Direction (second from top) and Madison Graie arrives on the red carpet before taking home the Best Short Drama prize.

Centigrade Rocks the Leo Awards!

Published May 24th, 2008 in PR News | 2 Comments »

PHOTO: Team Centigrade, which includes producer/actress Madison Graie (far right) and director/writer/actor Colin Cunningham (second from right), celebrate Cunnigham’s win as Best Director in a Short Drama at the Leo Awards. Also pictured are picture editor Jonathan Tyrell and Cunningham’s girlfriend Brianne McQuair. (Photos by Julia Pelish)

A whirlwind day for hot filmmakers Colin Cunningham and Madison Graie started with a television appearance in the morning and ended with a dominating awards-show performance at night.

The thriller “Centigrade”, the brainchild of the Vancouver duo, won three Leo Awards on Friday night, including for Best Direction in a Short Drama, which went to Cunningham. The movie, which has already qualified for Academy Awards consideration, will be up for two more Leos on Saturday night when the British Columbia film industry’s 10th annual awards show wraps up with a red-carpet celebration at the Westin Bayshore. Cunningham is nominated for Best Male Performance in a Short Drama and “Centigrade” is up for Best Short Drama.

Not bad for a flick whose script had been closeted for nearly two decades. Cunningham, who wrote the piece, said that it was his long-time collaborator who remembered the screenplay and convinced him to dust it off.

“It’s a script I wrote 17 years ago and it was last year when the Kickstart Awards came around and producer Madison Graie said, ‘Hey, do you want to do this?’ and I said, ‘What would we do?’ and she said, ‘Well, you’ve got a couple of different scripts’ and she mentioned a few and said, ‘How about Fahrenheit?’ That was the film’s original title,” Cunningham recalled prior to the ceremony.

Graie said she remembered the script in part because of the quality of the writing. “Colin is a really, really great writer,” she said. “It’s his style of writing that works. It clicks with me and I know if it clicks with me, it will click with a lot of other people.”

“Centigrade” is about a man stuck in a trailer and desperately searching for a means to get out before he burns inside the vehicle. It was made for $20,000 and shot mostly using a hand-held HD camera that “was about the size of a shoe,” Cunningham said.

After winning the Cinequest Film Festival honor for Best Narrative Short earlier this year, “Centigrade” qualified for the shortlist of films that can be nominated for the Oscars. Its strong showing earned Cunnigham and Graie, Elevation PR clients, a spot on Global Morning News in Vancouver Friday.

Then they prepared for the first night of the Leos and watched as the movie’s make-up artist, Jane Dancose, and its sound designer, Real Gauvreau (best overall sound), took home prizes before Cunningham collected his.

Cunningham is a veteran actor who has starred in such films and programs as “Da Vinci’s Inquest”, “jPod” and “Stargate”. With “Centigrade”, he made his directorial debut and the film is garnering so much attention it may be turned into a feature film, Cunningham said.