South African actress and producer, Lara Lipschitz won Best Actress for her role in web series, Chin Up, at at New York’s premier web series festival earlier this month.
Many of you may remember her familiar face - In the early-mid 2000s Lara was a regular host on YoTV, serving us the warmest hello every afternoon.
Her career has taken a steady path upwards since graduating from film studies at Wits.
Digital film enthusiasts, creators and actors from New York and around the world gathered at the NYC Web Fest to share their work in the rapidly growing digital entertainment industry.
After landing back in Cape Town from New York this week, Lipschitz said: “I am over the moon. As a creator and an artist, it means so much that the creativity and hard work which goes into Chin Up is being noticed. As a South African this is one more reason to believe that our standards and our work excels and can compete with the best in the world.”
According to NYC Web Fest founder and festival director, Lauren Atkins, this year saw record numbers of submissions and attendees at NYC’s premier web event. “I am incredibly proud that we had such high quality productions from around the world participate in our fourth annual WebFest. Our auditorium was packed every day because audiences are becoming more discerning about their entertainment. Audiences of web series are growing rapidly because people want to see stories that really matter to them”.
She added that the quality of productions this year was very high and it speaks to a maturing of the web series industry - writers, producers, actors and the entire value chain are producing work which rivals content on the major networks.