Actress and comedian Kate Flannery, best known for her long run as Meredith on “The Office” — and as a founding member of Chicago’s Annoyance Theater — will be the emcee of the IES Study Abroad Film Festival’s awards gala Wednesday at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
The grand prize winner will be presented with a $1,500 cash award and a one-year distribution deal with INDISTRY TV, a new subscription streaming service that offers content shaped by its audience.
IES Abroad is a non-profit organization the provides international study and internship opportunities in more than 20 nations and 34 locations around the globe. While the group’s film festival is in its fourth year, the Wednesday event is its first awards gala. This year 93 films were submitted by IES Abroad students — doubling the entries from the festival’s first year in 2014. The films document the students’ various overseas experiences.
The grand prize winner will be chosen by the public by voting (through Monday) for three finalists at the IES Abroad Facebook page, contest.fbapp.io/saff2017. The finalists were chosen by a jury of directors, editors, producers and screenwriters — all are either IES Abroad film studies faculty or IES Abroad alumni.