Kaylen Ng Announced as Winner of the Deutsche Bank Frieze Los Angeles Film Award 2024
The Singaporean-US filmmaker won for her work The Metamorphosis Project, about a man given a second chance at life by virtual reality. Britt Williams won the Audience Award for her film SOFT LAUNCH
The Singaporean-US filmmaker won for her work The Metamorphosis Project, about a man given a second chance at life by virtual reality. Britt Williams won the Audience Award for her film SOFT LAUNCH
The winner of the 2024 Deutsche Bank Frieze Los Angeles Film Award has been announced as Kaylen Ng. The LA-based Singaporean-US filmmaker receives a $10,000 prize for her work The Metamorphosis Project, which was selected by a jury of industry experts from a shortlist of eight films. Britt Williams won the Audience Award vote for her film SOFT LAUNCH, and receives a $2,500 prize. Both films responded to this year’s theme of “Technological Transformations.”
Christine Messineo, Director of Americas, Frieze said: "I am delighted that Frieze Los Angeles, taking place in the home and heart of the film industry, is celebrating the fifth Deutsche Bank Film Award this year. Now it is more important than ever to foster opportunities for emerging talent, and that impact can be seen in our support of over 40 fellows since the Award initiated in 2019."
In The Metamorphosis Project, Ng examines the problematic relationship we have between experience and reality—a dying man is offered a chance to try a VR palliative care program, only to find himself questioning what it truly means to be alive. The film’s unflashy approach and avoidance of sci-fi tropes allow its core message to be delivered unfiltered: what happens to us when our relationships and sense of self are mediated by technology?
Audience Award-winner Britt Willams’s film SOFT LAUNCH tackles a different aspect of technology—the use of automated facial-recognition software to track people’s online and IRL movements and behaviors. A tech CEO has to justify the ethics of her new program while concealing its true purpose. The narrative is intercut with surreal humor and the work itself questions how we often take media at face value.
About the Deutsche Bank Frieze Film Award
Now in its fifth year, the Deutsche Bank Frieze Los Angeles Film Award, in partnership with Ghetto Film School and FIFTH SEASON, provides a platform and development program for emerging Los Angeles-based filmmakers.
The Fellows’ films were judged by a jury of leading figures in contemporary art and entertainment. This year’s jury is composed of writer and director Julio Quintana; artist Jose Dávila; VP of Television Development and Production, FIFTH SEASON, Mina Baban; Producer and Head of Content, 1Community, Ameet Shukla; Director of Americas, Frieze, Christine Messineo; CEO, Ghetto Film School, Montea Robinson Head of Private Bank and member of the Management Board, Deutsche Bank, Claudio de Sanctis.
Previous winners of the award have been Irene Gil-Ramon and Shandrea Evans in 2023, Diante Singley and Adham Elnashai in 2022, John Rizkallah and Jane Chow in 2021 and Silvia Lara in 2019.
Further Information
Frieze Los Angeles is at Santa Monica Airport, February 29–March 3, 2024.
Tickets
Early-bird tickets are now sold out and full-price tickets are selling fast. Buy yours now before they’re gone.
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Frieze Los Angeles is supported by global lead partner Deutsche Bank, continuing over two decades of a shared commitment to artistic excellence
Main image: Kaylen Ng, The Metamorphosis Project, 2024. Film still
