The trailer for “O PIONEER,” the latest feature documentary from filmmaking team Clara Lehmann and Jonathan Lacocque, won a Webby Award from the jury for Best Video – Trailer. The 28th Annual Webby Awards, hailed as the internet’s highest honor by The New York Times, are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS).
“’O Pioneer’ has set the standard for innovation and creativity on the internet,” says Nick Borenstein, general manager of The Webby Awards. “This award is a testament to the skill, ingenuity and vision of its creators.”
The trailer will be honored at the 28th Annual Webby Awards in New York City on May 13 where winners will have an opportunity to deliver one of The Webby Awards’ famous five-word speeches.
Directed by Lehmann and Lacocque, “O Pioneer” stars Kaïa Kater, Nellie Rose Gundersen Davis, Tim Hibbs and James Morley. Written by Lehmann and produced by Lehmann, Lacocque and Grace Lawson, the film features cinematography by Lacocque, who also edits with Chris Parkhurst to a score composed by Ho-Ling Tang.
“O Pioneer” had its world premiere at the Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival in San Jose, CA last August where it took home the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature. It also received the jury nominated Sylvia Award for Best Documentary at the Rome International Film Festival and the prestigious Jack Spadaro Documentary Award from the Appalachian Studies Association.
The documentary reckons with and redefines the American pioneer. It follows three West Virginians—a blacksmith, seamstress and hospital chaplain—as they creatively navigate hardship and call us to champion the pioneer within. Narrated by lyricist and musician Kaïa Kater, the film weaves verité moments with archival footage, poetic vignettes and dream-like animation as Hibbs, Gundersen Davis and Morley humbly answer their calls to pioneer a way forward.
The film rethinks the stereotypical understanding of the American pioneer through a fresh and modern narrative set in West Virginia, which continues to experience a decline in population. In 2017, West Virginia ranked second highest in both numeric and percentage population decline. With this exodus and the grim facts about how opioids and joblessness ravage the state, those that stay face two paths—one of hopelessness and apathy and the other of the pioneer.
Lehmann says West Virginia inspires her. She believes this win proves the state generates art that competes with the best on the planet.
“The fact that we are a small independent team in the mountains of West Virginia and are able to compete and win on this global stage is both meaningful and rewarding,” says Lacocque. “It reminds me that we can all find our voice and create art that connects.”
