LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

If film and television are electronic folklore, then Madeline is an honored elder, telling tales of ordinary lives lived with courage and dignity and good humor. She has, through her work, very simply, changed the world.

– Kevin Hagopian, Festival Programmer & Teaching Professor

WATCH HER ACCEPTANCE VIDEO HERE

Madeline Anderson is a pioneering filmmaker and producer born in 1923 in Lancaster, PA. She is a ground-breaking television and documentary producer, film director, editor, screenwriter, activist, and mother of four.

Ms. Anderson is the second recipient of our Lifetime Achievement Award which honors content creators originally from Pennsylvania who have made a significant impact in media.

“By the time that I graduated from high school in 1945 I had decided to become a filmmaker. My films would be about real people in real time in the struggle for equality. The purpose of the films would not only be to change the image of Black people, but my hope was that my films would both educate and activate Black people to stay in the struggle. It was almost an impossible dream, but I have been blessed to have made a small contribution.”

Ms. Anderson is best known for her films INTEGRATION REPORT 1 (1960), A TRIBUTE TO MALCOM X (1967), and I AM SOMEBODY (1970). In the 1970s, she was an in-house producer, director, and supervising film editor at Sesame Street and Electric Company. In 2015, the National Museum of African American History and Culture officially recognized INTEGRATION REPORT 1 as the first documentary film to be directed by an African American woman.

CHANDLER LIVING LEGACY AWARD

Named for Curt and Stacie Chandler, the Chandler Living Legacy Award will honor an exemplary Pennsylvania native or Penn State alum impacting the fields of film and television.

WATCH THE AWARD CEREMONY HERE
Introduced by Dr. B. Steven Carpenter, Coach James Franklin congratulates Keegan-Michael Key on the award

Emmy® and Peabody Award-winning actor, writer, and producer Keegan-Michael Key is known for his extraordinarily diverse skill set, and wide-ranging talent, in both comedy and drama. Key redefines what it means to be a multi-hyphenate in the worlds of film, television, and theater.

Key is currently in production on the upcoming Warner Bros. Wonka film alongside Timothée Chalamet. In addition, he recently wrapped production on a slew of projects including Steve Levitan’s Hulu pilot, “Reboot” alongside Johnny Knoxville, Mike Myers’ new Netflix comedy series, “The Pentaverate,” and Judd Apatow’s newest comedy film The Bubble. Additionally, Key was recently announced as part of the voice cast of the upcoming Super Mario Bros. animated film.

Audiences can currently see Key in the Apple TV+ musical-comedy series, “Schmigadoon!,” opposite and will soon be heard in Sony’s Hotel Transylvania: Transformania early next year.

This past year, he starred in Ryan Murphy’s film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical, The Prom, for Netflix opposite Meryl Streep, James Corden, Nicole Kidman and Kerry Washington and Netflix’s Christmas film, Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey in which he received rave reviews for his performance. In addition, he narrated “The History of Sketch Comedy,” for Audible. He also co-wrote the series alongside director, Elle Key.

Additional credits include starring opposite Eddy Murphy in Netflix’s Dolemite Is My Name, Paramount’s Playing with Fire, and Disney’s tent-pole blockbuster films Toy Story 4 and The Lion King, and on the television side, he recently hosted and Executive Produced both “Game On!” for CBS and National Geographic’s “Brain Games.”

Key came to worldwide attention as co-creator and co-star, alongside Jordan Peele, of Comedy Central’s groundbreaking sketch series “Key & Peele” which won the 2016 Emmy® Award for ‘Outstanding Variety Sketch Series’. He has a BFA from the University of Detroit Mercy, and an MFA from The Penn State University. He currently resides in New York with his wife, director and producer Elle Key.