TOURMALINE PRIZES

Maine International Film Festival champions Maine-made films by awarding the annual Tourmaline Prizes. These juried honors, named for Maine’s state gem, recognize the best Maine-made films of the Festival. On closing night of MIFF, a $5,000 prize will be awarded to the best feature film, and a $2,500 prize will be awarded to the best short film.

Caitie Collier is an ambitious creative based in Portland, Maine with a background in production coordination and social media marketing at Stobo Films. Now freelancing in the camera department, Caitie is driven by her passion for cinema, exceptional organizational skills, and charismatic personality. Since her introduction to producing in 2017 at Mid-Maine Technical Center, where she won first place at the Maine Student Film + Video Festival with her documentary, Caitie has earned an associate degree in communications and new media from Southern Maine Community College. Continually seeking new opportunities, she thrives in the Maine film industry while pursuing passion projects.

Amrutha Kunapulli is an enthusiast and scholar of world cinema, with a soft spot for cinemas of south India. Having grown up in Tamil Nadu, India with its obstinately commercial, yet unforgivingly political, film industry, her cinephilia and scholarship are driven by a want to understand popular and commercial film industries, and their ability to reflect historical and cultural contexts. She specifically studies how various film industries navigate the local and the global in their attempt to find non-native audiences. Amrutha is currently working on her book, Worlding Tamil Cinema, and teaches at Colby College.

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Laura Schenck brings over 30 years and a wide range of experience working in film, television, and digital media. She serves as the Director of Visual Productions and Executive Producer of Television and Special Projects at Maine’s PBS station, Maine Public. Schenck has worked on many National Awardwinning productions and is a threetime Emmy award-winning Writer/ Producer/Director in the Boston/ New England market and counts CINE Golden Eagle, NETA, and other awards in her list of filmmaking accomplishments.