CALIFORNIA MUSIC VIDEO AWARDS

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CALFORNIA MUSIC VIDEO AWARDS

7th Annual California Music Video Awards Announce Nominees for Year’s Best Films

TasteTV and the CALIFORNIA MUSIC VIDEO AWARDS are pleased to announce the Finalist Nominees in the 7th Annual awards competition for music video categories, including films and documentaries. In addition, selected Special Achievement Award Honorees have been announced.

The CALIFORNIA MUSIC VIDEO AWARDS celebrate some of the most exciting and creative California-influenced music, musicians and artists. They honor great work and that California connection!

Additional Award Nominees and Honorees will be announced prior to the February 12, 2024 awards ceremony.

MUSIC VIDEO FINALISTS

Best Male Solo Artist

  • Heart Strings – Alex Shamraev, Tim McMorris , Elena Tepukhina
  • I’m So Fly – DonYe Hammock , Lea Marsh
  • Found Me; Deacon – Grey Smoley , Zishan Sun
  • The Sun in the Summertime – Martin Noel
  • Under the Moon! – Parker Davidson , Rachel Frank
  • Veins – Rebecca McNamee
  • Lake Fire; Jimmy Stanfield – Ryley Warrener , Tori Mccan
  • Antoine Dunn – October 7th Official Music Video – Shane Sackett ,
  • Theory Productions, Harvey Marie Records, Maria Skakun
  • Won’t Be Around – Terry Blade , CottonBro Studio, Bobby Cole
  • Come Down – Tom Breton

Best Female Solo Artist

  • Aphrodite – Angela Mavropoulos, Savvas Christou
  • Alice – PEGGY, Ben Phillippo
  • Clearly Through the Mist – Craig Abaya
  • Chameleon – Dave Warren, Pixlhaus , Jasmine Crowe
  • Time Machine – Evelyn Obamos, Cindy Zhang
  • Mother – Lex Giana , Shelley Segal
  • Dirt Don’t Hurt – Orlando Torres
  • All That Light – Psyberfairy , Ken Heintz
  • Kiss – Angela Mavropoulos, Savvas Christou
  • Truth Is…; Ania Hoo – Shane Williamson , Sydney Rhone, Hannah Sturges, Ania Hoo
  • Live (Vivre) – Thierry Vergnes , Nadyne L. Vergnes, Michel Dupuy
  • Strength of a Woman – Trevor Kyle Hansford

Best Duet

  • West Of West And East of Tokio (For James Hand) – Andy Zenczak
  • Never Get Away – Justine Blazer , Natalie Jean
  • Machine (Acoustic Version) – Meg Pfeiffer , Luca Stricagnoli
  • Getting Along – Scott Dobson, Michael Phillip Wojewoda , Kathryn Allison Rose
  • Here – Spencer Davies , Peter De Leon

Best Band or Group

  • Forgotten – Damian Wisniewski, Betty Wisniewska
  • How Do You Dare – Musicvideo for «Nonexister» – Dave Bullivant, Luzius Fischer
  • Drowning in the Void – Musicvideo for «Nonexister» – Justin Stoneham, Luziu Fischer
  • Voice of Addiction – Shinigami (Official Video) – Nick Rush
  • Oralia; Johnny Ruiz & The Escapers – Shahab Zargari
  • Damn Thing; The Pac – Toby Sidler

Best Movement (Choreography in a Music Video)

  • You Are Not Alone – Kate Martelle
  • We move as one; amalgaMOTION – Adam Daniel Mezei, Crystal Finn-Dunn , Jade Yurich
  • Wateke – Luis Figueredo , Danny Pryp, DaGold, Victor Morales
  • Sinbaram – Taeyoung CHOI
  • Drop/Shake Your Body; Diplo – Big Freedia – DJ Snake – Wilberto Lucci

Best Eye (Cinematography in a Music Video)

  • Sinbaram – Taeyoung CHOI
  • Forgotten – Damian Wisniewski, Betty Wisniewska
  • How Do You Dare – Musicvideo for «Nonexister» – Dave Bullivant, Luzius Fischer
  • Oralia; Johnny Ruiz & The Escapers – Shahab Zargari
  • Machine (Acoustic Version) – Meg Pfeiffer , Luca Stricagnoli
  • Kiss – Angela Mavropoulos, Savvas Christou
  • Won’t Be Around – Terry Blade , CottonBro Studio, Bobby Cole
  • VALERINE – Andrea VONJAKO Giacomini , Ariel D King
  • Yar (friend) – Fran Menchon , Farnaz Ohadi
  • The Man I Love – Olga , Alberto Lopes, Francisco Puech
  • DADACECE – Rich Costales , Kate Adams, David Plakon

Coolest Video Effects

  • Drowning in the Void – Musicvideo for «Nonexister» – Justin Stoneham , Luziu Fischer
  • Getting Along – Scott Dobson, Michael Phillip Wojewoda , Kathryn Allison Rose
  • Heart Strings – Alex Shamraev, Tim McMorris , Elena Tepukhina
  • Freeze – Daniel Osorio
  • SPACE – Ken Jones
  • Another place – Luca Rocchi
  • To The Moon – Richard E
  • Space Disco – Walter Sawan , Somit Sharma

Lyrics and Verse

  • Getting Along – Scott Dobson, Michael Phillip Wojewoda , Kathryn Allison Rose
  • Heart Strings – Alex Shamraev, Tim McMorris , Elena Tepukhina
  • Machine (Acoustic Version) – Meg Pfeiffer , Luca Stricagnoli
  • Won’t Be Around – Terry Blade , CottonBro Studio, Bobby Cole
  • The Man I Love – Olga , Alberto Lopes, Francisco Puech
  • You Are Not Alone – Kate Martelle
  • Never Get Away – Justine Blazer , Natalie Jean
  • Here – Spencer Davies , Peter De Leon
  • Aphrodite – Angela Mavropoulos, Savvas Christou
  • Alice – PEGGY, Ben Phillippo
  • Chameleon – Dave Warren, Pixlhaus , Jasmine Crowe
  • Mother – Lex Giana , Shelley Segal
  • Dirt Don’t Hurt – Orlando Torres
  • All That Light – Psyberfairy , Ken Heintz

Best Inspirational

  • Won’t Be Around – Terry Blade , CottonBro Studio, Bobby Cole
  • You Are Not Alone – Kate Martelle
  • Mother – Lex Giana , Shelley Segal
  • Dirt Don’t Hurt – Orlando Torres
  • Live (Vivre) – Thierry Vergnes , Nadyne L. Vergnes, Michel Dupuy
  • Strength of a Woman – Trevor Kyle Hansford
  • We’ll Soon Be Together, Redux – Ciro Ayala , Jefferson Berry
  • Between the Sea and the Sky – Dave Doobinin, Craig Greenberg
  • Human – Mohammed Paika

Made Me Laugh (Humor)

  • Voice of Addiction – Shinigami (Official Video) – Nick Rush
  • Under the Moon! – Parker Davidson , Rachel Frank
  • Play the Game of Thrones – Leigh Roberts , Wendy Jo Cohen
  • Be Happy – Randall Sauer

 Best Fashion and Makeup

  • Won’t Be Around – Terry Blade , CottonBro Studio, Bobby Cole
  • Strength of a Woman – Trevor Kyle Hansford
  • Alice – PEGGY, Ben Phillippo
  • All That Light – Psyberfairy , Ken Heintz
  • Love is My Gun
  • Sinbaram – Taeyoung CHOI
  • Kiss – Angela Mavropoulos, Savvas Christou
  • Valerine – Andrea VONJAKO Giacomini , Ariel D King
  • Don’t Pop My Bubble – Camille Solari , Durey Shevar
  • Nothin 4 Something – Cody Critcheloe
  • Star Dance – Elvira Kalnik
  • Vestigial Mythology – Frank Anthony Leon , Lauren Leon
  • Hantu; Dyan Tai – Shaun Parker , Dyan Tai

Best Location or Set Design

  • Valerine – Andrea VONJAKO Giacomini , Ariel D King
  • Vestigial Mythology – Frank Anthony Leon , Lauren Leon
  • Machine (Acoustic Version) – Meg Pfeiffer , Luca Stricagnoli
  • Aphrodite – Angela Mavropoulos, Savvas Christou
  • Forgotten – Damian Wisniewski, Betty Wisniewska
  • We move as one; amalgaMOTION – Adam Daniel Mezei, Crystal Finn-Dunn , Jade Yurich
  • y don’t u stay; Kitteh x Kitteh – Dimitra Korri , Nicholas Kuznacic
  • Sweet Dream – Matthias Wanka , Julius Enczmann, Anna Geissler, Pascal Klein

Best LGBTQ

  • Nothin 4 Something – Cody Critcheloe
  • Hantu; Dyan Tai – Shaun Parker , Dyan Tai
  • The Man I Love – Olga , Alberto Lopes, Francisco Puech
  • Chameleon – Dave Warren, Pixlhaus , Jasmine Crowe
  • Drop/Shake Your Body; Diplo – Big Freedia – DJ Snake – Wilberto Lucci

Best Foreign Language Music Video

  • Wateke – Luis Figueredo , Danny Pryp, DaGold, Victor Morales
  • California Rain – Zhijun Amy Ye , Weina Li
  • Live (Vivre) – Thierry Vergnes , Nadyne L. Vergnes, Michel Dupuy
  • Yar (friend) – Fran Menchon , Farnaz Ohadi

The Trippy Award

  • Everything is Fine – Naomi Plasterer
  • In The Background – Daniel Gold
  • Death After Death – Michael Edwards
  • Freeze – Daniel Osorio
  • Something Flash; Insider – Alessandro Amaducci , R&S Records
  • Moonjockey – Jamie Francis Windless, Ananda Jayne Howard , Christopher Welch
  • The Cave – Matthew Kollar , Joy Shannon
  • To The Moon – Richard E
  • Empaths & Apples – Kelli Reilly , Quartermaster Creative
  • Ecstasy of Love (from STUBBORNDEATHSTUBBORNSTEEL) – Sam Genovese

Best Sci-Fi, Horror, or Fantasy

  • In The Background – Daniel Gold
  • The Cave – Matthew Kollar , Joy Shannon
  • Veins – Rebecca McNamee
  • Another place – Luca Rocchi
  • Barn Burner – Myk Eff
  • The Last Shuttle – Dave Muddy
  • Your Pain Up My Veins – Musicvideo for «Nonexister» – Elias Ressegatti , Luzius Fischer, Roman Hodel
  • Undertow – Jay Adams
  • Alice – PEGGY, Ben Phillippo
  • SPACE – Ken Jones
  • Upside – Sean Cartwright , Juliana Capriano
  • Space Disco – Walter Sawan , Somit Sharma

Best Live or Studio Performance

  • Fredom from today – Marios Theodorou
  • We Don’t Need You Anymore; Nic Andrea & The Verdict – Nick Andrea , Gary Swan

Best Student Production Music Video

  • California Rain – Zhijun Amy Ye , Weina Li
  • Hey Boy; Marios Theodorou & Eleni Olympiou – Marios Theodorou
  • Everything is Fine – Naomi Plasterer
  • TALK – Zishan Sun Grey Smoley, Jonathan Sim, Hannah Qin
  • Veins – Rebecca McNamee
  • Sweet Dream – Matthias Wanka , Julius Enczmann, Anna Geissler, Pascal Klein
  • Wax Zoetic – Finley Stein, Zalman Zuckerbraun
  • Attention Please – Sam Azghandi

FILM & DOCUMENTARY FINALISTS

Best Short Music Film or Documentary (10-40 Minutes)

  • HARD LOVE
  • What Ever Happened to Jonny Faith
  • Roadkill Jamboree
  • Where I’m From
  • OLDO: journey to self-reflection
  • Strings of Tradition
  • Bassline
  • Big Freedia – Jump (Best Beleevah)
  • Sheng-Wu
  • The Session

Best Feature Music Film or Documentary 

  • ANÚNA : A Whisper of Paradise
  • Beyond
  • Black Lodge
  • Here : Memories of a soul (feature)
  • Nocturno
  • North of Nashville: A Canadian Music Revolution
  • Stabbed In The Face: The Rise and Fall of the World’s Most Violent Band
  • The hidden sound of tango
  • Tiki Taane in session with CSO

Best Foreign Language Film

  • ANÚNA : A Whisper of Paradise
  • Beyond
  • Nocturno
  • OLDO: journey to self-reflection
  • The hidden sound of tango

Best Dance Program, Film or Documentary

  • amalgaMOTION: We move as one
  • Sheng-Wu
  • STEPPIN: A Chicago Dance 74 min
  • You Are Not Alone

Best Film Soundtrack or Album

  • TBA

MUSIC VIDEO FINALISTS

True California

  • Machine (Acoustic Version) – Meg Pfeiffer , Luca Stricagnoli
  • Mother – Lex Giana, Shelley Segal
  • Oralia; Johnny Ruiz & The Escapers – Shahab Zargari
  • Damn Thing; The Pac – Toby Sidler
  • The Sun in the Summertime – Martin Noel
  • Her Highways – Nicholas Ross Pimentel , Cameron Nielsen

Best EDM/Dance

  • Another place – Luca Rocchi
  • How Do You Dare – Musicvideo for «Nonexister» – Dave Bullivant, Luzius Fischer
  • Veins – Rebecca McNamee
  • Upside – Sean Cartwright , Juliana Capriano
  • Nothin 4 Something – Cody Critcheloe
  • Drop/Shake Your Body; Diplo – Big Freedia – DJ Snake – Wilberto Lucci
  • y don’t u stay; Kitteh x Kitteh – Dimitra Korri , Nicholas Kuznacic
  • Star Dance – Elvira Kalnik
  • Personal Jesus – Samia Zaidi
  • Space Disco – Walter Sawan , Somit Sharma
  • Found Me; Deacon – Grey Smoley , Zishan Sun
  • Something Flash; Insider – Alessandro Amaducci , R&S Records
  • Taken; Dea Nammu – Eduardo Martínez Sánchez, Sergio Martínez Sánchez
  • Moonjockey – Jamie Francis Windless, Ananda Jayne Howard , Christopher Welch
  • Barn Burner – Myk Eff

Best Hip Hop

  • Veins – Rebecca McNamee
  • Algorithm Takedown – Alex Budovsky , Anna Kepe-Haas
  • Freeze – Daniel Osorio
  • Big Choppaz – Daniel Osorio

Best R&B

  • Oralia; Johnny Ruiz & The Escapers – Shahab Zargari
  • Damn Thing; The Pac – Toby Sidler
  • Dirt Don’t Hurt – Orlando Torres
  • Happily Unhappy; Toni Braxton, Jam & Lewis – Robbie Reddy
  • Antoine Dunn – October 7th Official Music Video – Shane Sackett , Theory Productions, Harvey Marie Records, Maria Skakun
  • Truth Is…; Ania Hoo – Shane Williamson , Sydney Rhone, Hannah Sturges, Ania Hoo
  • California Rain – Zhijun Amy Ye , Weina Li

Best Pop

  • The Sun in the Summertime – Martin Noel
  • Kiss – Angela Mavropoulos, Savvas Christou
  • Alice – PEGGY, Ben Phillippo
  • All That Light – Psyberfairy , Ken Heintz
  • SPACE – Ken Jones
  • Time Machine – Evelyn Obamos, Cindy Zhang
  • Jewel House- Where – Kirk Scully , Colin Holter
  • Best Part of the World – Ozan Fikri
  • TALK – Zishan Sun Grey Smoley, Jonathan Sim, Hannah Qin

Best Rap

  • Big Choppaz – Daniel Osorio
  • I’m So Fly – DonYe Hammock , Lea Marsh
  • How U Been – Aidan Caldwell , Justice P
  • No More Violence No More Pain. – Billy Farah Dews

California Heat Index

  • Time Machine – Evelyn Obamos, Cindy Zhang
  • Oralia; Johnny Ruiz & The Escapers – Shahab Zargari
  • Damn Thing; The Pac – Toby Sidler
  • California Rain – Zhijun Amy Ye , Weina Li
  • Nothin 4 Something – Cody Critcheloe
  • Valerine – Andrea VONJAKO Giacomini , Ariel D King
  • Come Down – Tom Breton
  • The Shirt Song – Jeremy Eichenbaum , Jasmine Crowe
  • Cotton Candy – Jesse Klick

Best Love Song

  • Time Machine – Evelyn Obamos, Cindy Zhang
  • California Rain – Zhijun Amy Ye , Weina Li
  • The Shirt Song – Jeremy Eichenbaum , Jasmine Crowe
  • Jewel House- Where – Kirk Scully , Colin Holter
  • Antoine Dunn – October 7th Official Music Video – Shane Sackett , Theory Productions, Harvey Marie Records, Maria Skakun
  • Truth Is…; Ania Hoo – Shane Williamson , Sydney Rhone, Hannah Sturges, Ania Hoo
  • Heart Strings – Alex Shamraev, Tim McMorris , Elena Tepukhina
  • Here – Spencer Davies , Peter De Leon

This Rocks

  • Valerine – Andrea VONJAKO Giacomini , Ariel D King
  • Come Down – Tom Breton
  • Alice – PEGGY, Ben Phillippo
  • Personal Jesus – Samia Zaidi
  • Drowning in the Void – Musicvideo for «Nonexister» – Justin Stoneham , Luziu Fischer
  • Voice of Addiction – Shinigami (Official Video) – Nick Rush
  • Never Get Away – Justine Blazer , Natalie Jean
  • Get Me Outta Here – Tyler DePerro

Best Metal

  • How Do You Dare – Musicvideo for «Nonexister» – Dave Bullivant, Luzius Fischer
  • Taken; Dea Nammu – Eduardo Martínez Sánchez, Sergio Martínez Sánchez
  • Your Pain Up My Veins – Musicvideo for «Nonexister» – Elias Ressegatti , Luzius Fischer, Roman Hodel
  • Undertow – Jay Adams

Best Action or Adventure Music Video

  • Kiss – Angela Mavropoulos, Savvas Christou
  • Another place – Luca Rocchi
  • How Do You Dare – Musicvideo for «Nonexister» – Dave Bullivant, Luzius Fischer
  • Veins – Rebecca McNamee
  • Upside – Sean Cartwright , Juliana Capriano
  • Drowning in the Void – Musicvideo for «Nonexister» – Justin Stoneham , Luziu Fischer
  • The Cave – Matthew Kollar , Joy Shannon

Best Animation in a Music Video

  • Happily Unhappy; Toni Braxton, Jam & Lewis – Robbie Reddy
  • Heart Strings – Alex Shamraev, Tim McMorris , Elena Tepukhina
  • Algorithm Takedown – Alex Budovsky , Anna Kepe-Haas
  • Another place – Luca Rocchi
  • Barn Burner – Myk Eff
  • Chameleon – Dave Warren, Pixlhaus , Jasmine Crowe
  • We’ll Soon Be Together, Redux – Ciro Ayala , Jefferson Berry
  • In The Background – Daniel Gold
  • American Earthling – Kev Miles , Eytan Ribner
  • Death After Death – Michael Edwards
  • Everything is Fine – Naomi Plasterer
  • The Last Shuttle – Dave Muddy

Best Folk, Country or Blues

  • We’ll Soon Be Together, Redux – Ciro Ayala , Jefferson Berry
  • Never Get Away – Justine Blazer , Natalie Jean
  • Here – Spencer Davies , Peter De Leon
  • Mother – Lex Giana , Shelley Segal
  • Under the Moon! – Parker Davidson , Rachel Frank
  • Sinking Stars – Ryan Taplin , Maria Glassner
  • West Of West And East of Tokio (For James Hand) – Andy Zenczak
  • A Cup Of Tea – Video Clip – Ericca De Lima , Guilherme Maronna, Luciano Oschelski
  • That Muscle Shoals Sound – Rick Revel, Kevin Kehl , Rick Revel

Best World Music

  • In The Background – Daniel Gold
  • Sinbaram – Taeyoung CHOI
  • Machine (Acoustic Version) – Meg Pfeiffer , Luca Stricagnoli
  • Aphrodite – Angela Mavropoulos, Savvas Christou
  • Hey Boy; Marios Theodorou & Eleni Olympiou – Marios Theodorou
  • Wateke – Luis Figueredo , Danny Pryp, DaGold, Victor Morales
  • Traces Of My Melanin; AMARU – AMARU

Best Instrumental or Jazz

  • In The Background – Daniel Gold
  • Death After Death – Michael Edwards
  • Sinbaram – Taeyoung CHOI
  • DADACECE – Rich Costales , Kate Adams, David Plakon

Best Editing

  • TBA

Best Directing

  • TBA

SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WINNER HONOREES

The Word Award Winners

  • Mother – Lex Giana , Shelley Segal
  • More TBA

Peace Award Winner

  • Fredom from today – Marios Theodorou

Social Justice and Hope Winners

  • You Are Not Alone – Kate Martelle
  • No More Violence No More Pain. – Billy Farah Dews
  • Forgotten – Damian Wisniewski, Betty Wisniewska
  • Won’t Be Around – Terry Blade , CottonBro Studio, Bobby Cole

Breakout Storytellers Winners

  • How Do You Dare – Musicvideo for «Nonexister» – Dave Bullivant, Luzius Fischer
  • More TBA

Spotlight Award Winners

  • Veins – Rebecca McNamee
  • Upside – Sean Cartwright , Juliana Capriano
  • Sweet Dream – Matthias Wanka , Julius Enczmann, Anna Geissler, Pascal Klein
  • Wax Zoetic – Finley Stein, Zalman Zuckerbraun
  • Live (Vivre) – Thierry Vergnes , Nadyne L. Vergnes, Michel Dupuy
  • Happily Unhappy; Toni Braxton, Jam & Lewis – Robbie Reddy
  • The Man I Love – Olga , Alberto Lopes, Francisco Puech
  • Clearly Through the Mist – Craig Abaya
  • More TBA

The Kids or Educational Award Winners

  • American Earthling – Kev Miles , Eytan Ribner
  • Don’t Pop My Bubble – Camille Solari , Durey Shevar
  • Flores de Xichú – Chris Brown, Eugene Rodriguez
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