THE CLOSER WE GET Celebrates Best International Feature Documentary Award Win at Hotdocs 2015

Today Somewhere is honoured to announce that it has won Best International Feature Documentary Award at HotDocs 2015 for THE CLOSER WE GET following its World Premiere at HotDocs 2015 on Wednesday 29th April 2015. The HotDocs 2015 Awards Ceremony was held at the Shangri-La Hotel, Toronto on Friday 1st May 8.30pm EDT.

The International Feature Documentary Jury featured: Malika Zouhali-Worrall (Director, THANK YOU FOR PLAYING, Hot Docs 2015), Tabitha Jackson (Director of the Documentary Film Program at Sundance Institute in Los Angeles) and Alison Klayman (Director, THE 100 YEARS SHOW, Hot Docs 2015).

Directed by Karen Guthrie and Produced by Karen Guthrie and Nina Pope, The Closer We Get is a powerful and exquisitely-shot autobiographical portrait of loyalty, broken dreams and redemption told by its director, reluctantly-dutiful daughter Karen, who takes you under the skin of the household she returns to for this long goodbye.

Karen's mother Ann suffers a devastating stroke that brings her daughter back home when she least expects it. But Karen isn't the only one who returns to help care for Ann in the crisis: Her prodigal father, the unfathomable but endearing Ian - separated from Ann for years - also reappears. Armed with her camera, Karen seizes this last chance to confront the family story before it's too late, to come to terms with the aftermath of the secret her father had tried - and failed - to keep from them all, and to find that Ann's stroke has in fact thrown them all a life raft.

With candour, warmth and much unexpected humour, Karen’s role as family confidante, busybody, therapist and spy brings to her audience both a compelling story and a unique portrait of contemporary family survival.

Director and Producer Karen Guthrie said: "We are thrilled to win this award for The Closer We Get at this year’s Hot Docs – this means so much to the team. The film has been five years in the making and includes family archive going back many decades - a real labour of love. Canada has a special place in the film's back story - My mother Ann - one of the film's protagonists - emigrated to Canada from Scotland in the early 1960's and it was my father Ian who lured her back home to marry him - and so our story unfolds!"

For further details visit the Website and Twitter: @TheCloserWeGet

The Closer We Get Film Page | The Closer We Get Review

About Somewhere
Somewhere is a multi-disciplinary, non-profit creative organisation run by artist / film-makers Nina Pope and Karen Guthrie. We produce ambitious, innovative and challenging projects spanning film, the web, installation, live events and public art. From here you can access all projects produced by Somewhere, as well as Pope & Guthrie's past and current work. 

BIOGRAPHIES

KAREN GUTHRIE - Director & Producer
Karen was raised in Scotland and now lives in the rural Lake District (England). She met longterm collaborator Nina Pope whilst they were fine art students at Edinburgh College of Art and they have since worked together on many art projects and commissions as well as on three feature documentaries - Jaywick Escapes (2012), Living with the Tudors (2007) and Bata-ville: We Are Not Afraid of the Future (2005). 
Karen continues to work as an artist on diverse projects including recent commissions for University of Cambridge and Hauser & Wirth.

NINA POPE - Director of Photography & Producer
Nina Pope is based in London and has worked with director Karen since 1995, founding their multi-faceted creative company Somewhere in 2001 working on many art installations, live events and public art commissions together. In 2007 they were awarded the first Northern Art Prize and they now also programme London's Floating Cinema, for which they executively produced Maxy Bianco's 2013 debut film 'Can House'. Nina also maintains an academic post at the Royal College of Art, and Karen and Nina’s collected film and art projects were the subject of a retrospective at Kettles Yard gallery in Cambridge in autumn 2014.

See more of Karen & Nina’s work here

ALICE POWELL - Editor
Alice lives in London and is a graduate of the National Film & Television School. She has edited corporate films, shorts and several documentaries including Buried Land and Untitled 13, about the making of British director Mike Leigh's latest feature. Alice co-edited Karen & Nina's previous film Jaywick Escapes.

See more of Alice's work here

Developed with support from Scottish Documentary Institute, Royal College of Art, Creative England & Sources2

Produced with support from Arts Council England, Creative Scotland, Splice & 333 Indiegogo funders