Ten by Ten Awards.

We’re happy to report that Ten by Ten, Jami Bennett’s MA Visual Anthropology graduation film (2021), has been scooping awards and selections at festivals around the world.

Like all MAVA students, Jami developed her film project during the whole year she spent studying with us, with the support of her supervisor Dr Angela Torresan. She had originally planned to film her brother in law as he performed an ancestor memorial rite called gijesa on Jeju island (South Korea). The pandemic, with its changing immigration and quarantine policies, meant that Jami had to miss the ritual and adapt her original plan to the new circumstances. She filmed instead her sister Jessica, who had moved to South Korea from her native Tennessee and opened an American-style diner out of her home, with the help of her husband Dongseop. After being featured on one of the country’s most popular television shows, the couple must adjust to the shock of their newfound TV fame and to the crowds of curious new customers it brings. The film follows Jessica along themes of food and identity, home and celebrity, while being thoroughly entertaining and witty.

This is a list of the awards Jami won with Ten by Ten:

• Reel South Short Award – Winner
  Nashville Film Festival 2022
• Best Student Documentary – Winner
  Grierson British Documentary Awards 2022
• Best Short Film – Winner
  Best of the Fest – Winner
  Tennessee International Indie Film Festival 2022
• Emerging Artist Award – Winner
  DocUtah International Film Festival 2022
• Best Student Doc – Honorable Mention
  Society for Visual Anthropology Film & Media Festival 2022

For more information on the film, head over to Jami’s website.

Watch Jami accept the prestigious Grierson Best Student Documentary Award: