Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients
Every year we strive to acknowledge and recognize the achievements of an individual that has worked in the film industry and whom has helped further the Georgia film arts. This person has worked with numerous individuals in the industry and probably worked in various capacities.
RON McLELLEN is our 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient! He is a filmmaker based out of Gainesville, Georgia who has had numerous successes in the horror and sci-fi genres in the independent Georgia film industry. He has worked on both shorts and features of which JACK O’LANTERN, HELL’S END, BAD LAND, and ALL HALLOWS EVIL: LORD OF THE HARVEST is just a few. He not only writes, directs, and produces many of his films but he also acts and produces and is cinematographer on many other young filmmakers' films not to mention that he has had great success as a music composer. For this reason we are proud to have him as our 2020 recipient! For more info on his amazing career read here. |
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SONYA THOMPSON is our 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient! She has been in the Georgia film industry for decades working with indie filmmakers in shorts and features. She got her big break as a Featured Zombie in the hit AMC TV series The Walking Dead during its first season; her image was part of the key art for marketing the show (and continues to be used to this day). She used this newfound popularity to bolster her profile as an actress through convention appearances, bigger budgeted films and other opportunities including having written a book on her experiences working on the show. Now Thompson not only performs in films but is also a screenwriter, producer, and director and continues to aid younger filmmakers in Georgia as a valuable asset in front and behind the camera.
LYNN LOWRY is our 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient! She is an Atlanta native who has been in the film industry for over forty years having got her start in the cult classic I Drink Your Blood (1970). She has worked with such notable directors as George A. Romero (The Crazies), David Cronenberg (Shivers), and Paul Schrader (Cat People), to name a few. Even though she has acted in many different genres, she has made her mark in the horror genre both in front and behind the scenes in both shorts and features. She is still hard at work to this day with numerous projects in various states of production while continuing to support local filmmakers and the film industry.