West Kelowna native Johnny Jansen has been nominated for a JUNO Award.
Image Credit: Sterling Larose
February 27, 2020 - 7:30 AM
A West Kelowna man has been literally dreaming about his JUNO nomination.
Johnny Jansen was recently nominated for the Music Video of the Year JUNO Award as director for Said the Whale’s music video Record Shop.
“It came as a surprise, big time. It was exciting,” he said, adding that he had no idea the nomination was coming.
He’s had weird dreams about it. One was a horrifying one where no showed up, and in another, he got to meet the Queen of England. He’s also working on a film with an old friend about dreams, so that may be why it's all tied together, he said.
In Vancouver, Jansen thought it was funny that there's a big billboard of himself, because it makes him look like a musician, he said. He’s up against four other nominees in the category and is enjoying the spotlight that comes with his nomination.
“I’m lucky to be able to do something creative for a living and walk a red carpet,” he said. “There are not that many non-musician award categories,” he said.
Win or lose, he says the award night will be a good way to connect with musicians.
After moving to Vancouver in 2014, Jansen created films for commercial and music clients from all over the world, earning a Leo Award, Prism Prize and Western Canada Music Industry Award for a stop-motion animation music video he directed in 2019.
A graduate of Mount Boucherie Secondary school, Jansen attributes his love of film to his high school film teacher Fred Way.
“It was Fred Way that really installed the passion in us for the medium. A bunch of us are actually working in film together and we all go back to Mr. Way, our film teacher that built that creative energy inside of us and really allowed us to imagine a future where we could be filmmakers,” he said.
He’s currently working on his first feature documentary which will feature West Kelowna, although though he’s tight-lipped about the release date and details.
The JUNO award ceremony will take place Sunday, March 15 in Saskatchewan.
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