First recipient chosen for scholarship from Kino Lorber targeted to assist future media librarians

New York City, NY, June 24 - Art-house film distribution company Kino Lorber, Inc., today announced the first winner of a scholarship presented in collaboration with the Video Roundtable (VRT) of the American Library Association (ALA). Lydia Hope Creech, a master’s candidate in Library Science at Indiana University Bloomington, was selected from other online applicants by a panel of three VRT members, based on criteria established for the scholarship.

 “Lydia’s application materials revealed a bright scholar with a creative flair for engaging library patrons, as well as an eager and enduring interest in great film,” said Jeff Tamblyn, Kino Lorber’s director of educational sales and distribution. “Kino Lorber’s interest is in furthering a profession of increasing importance in education, so it’s a real pleasure to award the first year of this scholarship to a candidate with credentials this solid.” The official announcement was made at the VRT Mixer, an annual event sponsored by Kino Lorber’s educational sales department, at the ALA conference in Orlando, Florida.

The Kino Lorber EDU/Video Round Table Annual Scholarship has two parts – a $1,000 cash award and a trip to New York City for the recipient to attend a film festival and spend a day learning about the distribution business from the professionals at Kino Lorber. Creech will confer with Kino Lorber’s staff to determine which NYC film festival she’ll be attending.

Volunteers assisting with selection included current chair of the VRT Brian Boling (Temple University), Laura Jenemann (George Mason University) and Andrew Horbal (University of Maryland).

Kino Lorber CEO Richard Lorber says the scholarship “aligns closely with our aim of building audiences for exceptional films.” Lorber has been in the distribution business for over 2 decades, bringing acclaimed narrative and documentary films to North America. He also holds a Doctorate in Art Education from Columbia University. “Media librarians have long been important to film distributors,” Lorber said.  “When we arrived at the idea to provide a scholarship, it was gratifying to be able to ‘give back’. This is a program that will provide dividends for the public, for universities, and for filmmakers, for decades to come.”

Kino Lorber contact

Jeff Tamblyn
jtamblyn@kinolorber.com
212 629 6880
kinolorber.com and kinolorberedu.com

ALA press contact

Danielle Alderson
dalderson@ala.org