This award goes to a film that embraces the vibrancy of an artist whose experimentations in painting, puppetry and illustration expand our spirits and lives. This premiere award is named in honor of Hector Leonardi who has been  communicating the joy of painting through art and color for over 50 years.

DIRECTOR: Richard Kane
PRODUCERS: Richard Kane, Robert Shetterly
EDITOR: Richard Kane
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Richard Kane

Ashley Bryan is a 93-year-old phenomenon, and, for him, age is no barrier to creativity, activism and genius. Born in Harlem, raised in the Bronx, drafted into an all-Black battalion during World War II, Bryan has been using art his entire life to celebrate joy, mediate the darkness of war and racism, explore the mysteries of faith, and create loving community. He’s an African American poet/illustrator of over 50 children’s books, painter, puppet maker and all-around inspiration to the children he teaches and the people who live in his adopted home on the remote Cranberry Islands in Maine.

Richard Kane is an independent director whose work is focused on the intersection of art and contemporary American life. Along with his partner Melody Lewis Kane, their company, Kane-Lewis Productions, has produced the Natural Resources Council of Maine’s 50th anniversary film Protecting the Nature of Maine; an indie documentary ROCK SOLID: The Schoodic International Sculpture Symposium; and the award-winning documentary M.C. Richards: The Fire Within. Kane is also the Chairman of the Board of the Maine Film & Video Association.