News Releases - 2009
Mike Hoolboom wins Bell Award in Video Art from the Canada Council for the Arts
Ottawa, December 16, 2009 – Toronto videographer and filmmaker Mike Hoolboom is the winner of the 2009 Bell Award in Video Art announced the Canada Council for the Arts today. The $10,000 prize has been awarded annually since 1991 for exceptional contribution by a video artist or artists to the advancement of video art in Canada and to the development of video practices. The Canada Council administers the award.
Mr. Hoolboom was selected by a peer assessment committee made up of Daniel Dion (Montreal), Midi Onodera (Toronto) and Jayce Salloum (Vancouver).
Download an image of Mr. Hoolboom.
Mr. Hoolboom has produced 16 films and videos which have been screened around the world. He has been honoured with eleven international retrospectives of his work, most recently in Poland and Argentina. He also received two lifetime achievement awards; the first from the city of Toronto, and the second from the Mediawave Festival in Hungary. He is a founding member of the Pleasure Dome screening collective and has worked as the artistic director of the Images Festival and as the experimental film co-ordinator at Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre. Since 2004 he has been working on Fringe Online, a web project which provides access to the archives of a number of Canadian media artists.
Mr. Hoolboom has written three non-fiction books entitled Practical Dreamers: Conversations with Canadian Movie Artists (Coach House Books, 2008), Inside the Pleasure Dome: Fringe Film in Canada (Coach House Books, 2001) and Plague Years (YYZ Books, 1998). His first novel The Steve Machine was published by Coach House Books in the fall of 2008.
General information
In addition to its principal role of promoting and fostering the arts, the Canada Council for the Arts administers and awards many prizes and fellowships in the arts, humanities, social sciences, natural and health sciences, engineering, and arts management. These prizes and fellowships recognize the achievements of outstanding Canadian artists, scholars, and administrators. The Canada Council is committed to raising public awareness and celebrating these exceptional people and organizations on both a national and international level.
Visit our prizes page for a complete listing of these awards.