Emily Kai Bock Wins Second Annual Prism Prize for Arcade Fire’s “Afterlife” Video

By: Patrick Topping (@ptopp_ing) –

A scene from “Afterlife” by Arcade Fire, directed by Emily Kai Bock, winner of the second annual Prism Prize.

The Prism Prize held their second annual reception last night at The Everleigh in downtown Toronto, presenting the $5000 prize award for the director of the best Canadian music video as selected by the 100-member jury consisting of Canadian journalists, filmmakers, artists, bloggers, broadcasters, and more. The dull roar of excited conversation between well-dressed juror members and indie artists, mingling with cohorts and participants of Canada’s independently-minded arts and music communities (drawn heavily from Toronto’s music business) electrified the spacious, speak-easy styled venue. Organizers placed multimedia stations throughout the room looping a slideshow of the top-10 videos, and the diverse offering at the open bar buoyed the celebratory mood for the distinctly nationalist award.

Organizers presented recognitions to Canadian music video filmmaker duo Scott Cudmore and Michael Leblanc, and an at-broad Floria Sigismondi, who delivered her earnest award acceptance speech via a pre-recorded video. The Audience Choice award recognized Kheaven Lewandowski’s cinematic and stylish direction on the Japanese-infused video for Belle Game’s “River”. The screening of the videos and the awards presentations suffered from a staggered itinerary throughout the evening, proving burdensome as the spirits flowed and guests were lured to the dance floor.

As the hour for the main prize arrived, the crowd’s focus swerved back to the stage for Noah Pink, last year’s award recipient, and MTV Canada’s Sharlene Chiu, who announced entrenched Montreal filmmaker Emily Kai Bock as the winner for her beautiful narrative-driven work on Arcade Fire’s “Afterlife”. Bock’s recognition and third nomination for the Prism prize in its second year (she was also nominated for her direction on the gritty and poignant video for Majical Cloudz’s “Childhood’s End”) reaffirms her vision and fledging career.

The other short-listed nominees this year were The Belle Game’s “River” (Kheaven Lewandowski), Jessy Lanza’s “Kathy Lee” (Lee Skinner), Keys N Krates’ “Dum Dee Dum” (Amos Leblanc), Drake’s “Started From the Bottom” (X & Drake), Shad’s “Fam Jam” (Che Kothari), Hollerado’s “So It Goes” (Marc Ricciardelli), Arcade Fire’s “Reflecktor” (Anton Corbijn) and Young Galaxy’s “New Summer” (Ivan Grbovic).

Last year’s winner of the inaugural Prism Prize was Rich Aucoin’s “Brian Wilson is A.L.i.V.E.” directed by Noah Pink.