Women in Film and Television Vancouver will shine their Spotlight Awards on some of the British Columbian film industry's most influential women.

The Spotlight Awards 2015 gala, to be held on Monday (June) 15 at 8 p.m. at Performance Works Granville Island, will be hosted by entertainers Ellie Harvie and Diana Frances of Leave It to Cleavage. For ticket information, visit the WIFTV website.

WIFTV has announced a list of the winners:

Teamsters 155 Woman of the Year
Patricia Gruben
filmmaker, SFU associate professor

This award is presented to a woman who has achieved a significant success in the field of film or television, and who is recognized for mentoring other women in the industry. Gruben has helped emerging talents develop through her work with Praxis and SFU.

Troika Sharon Gibbon Award
Elizabeth Yake
producer, True West Films president

The Sharon Gibbon Award honours a member in recognition of her volunteer work with WIFTV advancing the organization’s goals. Yake has contributed to the community in everything from mentoring emerging producers to educating writers and producers, not to mention helping to establish the professional presence of the west coast film community internationally. 

Please Adjust Your Set Award
St. John's International Women's Film Festival, represented by Barbara Janes
Women in View, represented by Rina Fraticelli

This award honours a person or organization that has made a major contribution to promote gender equality in film, television or screen based media. SJIWFF and WIV are responsible for creating and hosting the St. John’s Summit on Women in Media in 2014, which was focused on promoting gender equity in Canada's film and television industry. This historic summit, the first of its kind held in the country, was attended by fourteen leaders of women’s media organizations and unions, representing over 40,000 professional members of Canada’s film and television industry. These leaders released seven recommendations calling for major changes in government policy to end the current conditions in which women are underrepresented in leadership roles both on screen and behind the scenes, and where women-led film and television projects receive only a fraction of the substantial government funding available in Canada for media production.

Capilano Leadership in Education Award
Ingrid Torrance
actor, director, producer, author, educator

The Leadership in Education Award recognizes vision and excellence in the teaching of screen-based media and for creating opportunities for and providing mentorship to women students. Ingrid Torrance transformed her experience and talents as an actor, director and producer into support for Vancouver’s aspiring talent. After publishing Act! A Step by Step Guide to Starting Your Acting Career, she assembled insight from international film talent into several internationally distributed DVD series.

Honorary Friend Award
Don Thompson
president, Finalé Editworks founder

The Honorary Friend Award (for which men are eligible) recognizes a person who has played a significant role in supporting women in the industry as well as promoting the success of the organization. Thompson has shared his passion and assistance to help filmmakers realize their dreams, and is notable for an exceptional willingness to share his time and his experience.

Foundation Features Wayne Black Service Award
Maureen Webb
casting director, Limelight Society co-founder

The Wayne Black Service Award honours a woman with a behind-the-scenes role for her continued efforts within the film and television community. As one of Vancouver’s top casting directors for more than 25 years, Webb has cultivated community resources that develop and support youth, like Project Limelight and East of Main Café.

Agentic Digital Media Artistic Achievement Award
Madeleine Grant
filmmaker

This award honours a woman who demonstrates filmmaking excellence. Grant's award-winning documentary feature, The Backward Class captured youth from India’s untouchable class re-framing their world.

Artistic Innovation Award
Pauline Heaton
cinematographer

The Artistic Innovation Award honours women who demonstrate vision, experimentation, and innovation. Heaton is an award-winning underwater cinematographer and filmmaker whose artistic accomplishments and her innovation of equipment and underwater techniques have earned international accolades. She has also developed national and international training programs and mentored many women in the field. Her outstanding success is particularly noteworthy as less than two percent of directors of photography in the B.C. camera union local, IATSE 669, are women.

The Image Award

Michelle Brezinski
filmmaker

The Image Award is awarded to a female director or DOP for a recent short work that shows excellence in overall production value or a unique, visionary approach to the cinematography or storytelling. Brezinski’s collaboration with director Shannon Kohli, the short film "Madness", is a testament to the filmmaker’s own healing from PTSD.