SeriesFest has unveiled its non-competitive award winners for its upcoming 12th edition, to include an inaugural Visionary Award for John J. Sie, the founder and former chairman of Starz Entertainment Group, with The Testaments actress and indie icon Amy Seimetz picking up the Spotlight Performance Award.
The May 8 SeriesFest Soirée for the Denver-based festival will also see the Ambassador Award go to Bridgerton director Gia-Rayne B. Harris and Littleton Road Productions, the creative team behind the Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy true crime series, receiving the Impact in Television Award.
Stage and screen actor Erich Bergen will host the annual SeriesFest event during the festival’s May 6 to 10 run.
“This year’s honorees represent everything we built SeriesFest to celebrate — pioneers who reshape the landscape, directors who break down barriers, storytellers who refuse to look away from the truth, and fearless performers who bring it all to life. We are deeply moved to recognize John, Amy, Gia-Rayne, and Littleton Road Productions at this year’s Soirée,” SeriesFest co-founders Randi Kleiner and Kaily Smith said in a statement.
Sie, a Colorado cable TV pioneer, launched Starz Entertainment in 1991 as an operator of premium movie networks, including Starz and Encore. Also set for a SeriesFest tribute is Michael Chernus, who plays the hiding-in-plain-sight serial killer John Wayne Gacy in the Peacock series Devil in Disguise, and who will participate alongside fellow creatives in a festival panel titled Impact in TV: Littleton Road Productions.
Seimetz will attend a screening of The Testaments at SeriesFest, followed by a panel on The Handmaid’s Tale sequel for Hulu. The filmmaker also co-created, wrote, directed and produced two seasons of the Starz series The Girlfriend Experience for executive producer Steven Soderbergh, and worked with Donald Glover to direct episodes of the FX series Atlanta and Amazon’s Mr & Mrs Smith.
And fellow honoree Gia-Rayne B. Harris – who directed an episode of season four of Bridgerton and shadowed director Tom Verica on the hit Netflix series as part of a mentorship — will participate in The Directors of Shondaland: Vision and Story panel in Denver. Harris also made her TV directorial debut on NBC’s Chicago P.D. and has 13 short films among her other filmmaking credits.
The SeriesFest Soirée helps raise funds to support artists and storytellers from underserved communities.
