Maisie Crow
AWARD DATE: 2011
AWARD NAME: Best Use of Online Video 2011
AWARD RECIPIENT: Maisie Crow and Jesse Dukes
AWARD RECIPIENT AFFILIATION: Virginia Quarterly Review
AWARD HONORED WORK: “Half-Lives: The Chernobyl Workers Today”
Released to coincide with the Fall 2011 issue of VQR, Maisie Crow's original short film introduces us to the city of Slavutych and its residents—survivors of the Chernobyl disaster and the workers still dismantling the plant.
Originally assigned to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl, Crow’s video re-examines the fallout from one of history’s worst man-made disasters. “Half-Lives” artfully disentangles the connections between the power plant, the cities that were purpose-built to support it and the workers whose lives will be forever affected by it. In the aftermath of last year’s tsunami and nuclear disaster at Fukushima, Crow’s film is especially haunting. The judges were impressed by the intimacy of the video’s interviews, the smart use of archival footage and the elegant use of still photography. The cinema-quality production values that Crow achieved are rarely seen in video produced for the web. She has elevated the standard for online video.
Half-Lives: The Chernobyl Workers Now from VQR on Vimeo.
Citation for Excellence:
Brent Renaud, Craig Renaud, Dave Rummel, Ann Derry
The New York Times
“Surviving Haiti’s Earthquake”