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Scholarship fund honours memory of filmmaker

A scholarship fund for budding young filmmakers has been established in memory of Twyla Roscovich, the Island activist and documentarian who died in September.
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Twyla Roscovich was a documentary filmmaker and environmentalist.

A scholarship fund for budding young filmmakers has been established in memory of Twyla Roscovich, the Island activist and documentarian who died in September.

Family, friends and colleagues of the 38-year-old came together to establish the Twyla Roscovich Memorial Fund at the Tides Canada Foundation — a registered charity.

The goal is to raise $25,000 and use $1,000 each year to fund a young person to attend the Gulf Island Film and Television School on Galiano Island. Roscovich discovered her passion and talent for film at the school when she was a teen. She went on to create several environmental documentaries, including Salmon Confidential in 2013 with anti-fish farm activist Alexandra Morton.

Pacific Wild Alliance has already kicked in $5,000 to the fund.

“I made my first film with Twyla almost 20 years ago and have yet to meet another filmmaker who instills so much passion into their work,” said Ian McAllister, executive director of the wildlife protection organization, in a release. “She did more to protect the environment than many realize. I think she would be pleased to know that her legacy will live on through the work of other activist filmmakers.”

The scholarship will be awarded through an advisory committee headed by Roscovich’s father, Glen Roscovich.

The family said they were overwhelmed by the response to a crowd-funding campaign for Twyla’s four-year-old daughter, which raised more than $60,000.

Roscovich, a Sointula resident, was reported missing on Sept. 8 and her body was found a week later at the Fisherman’s Wharf Marina in Campbell River. Foul play was not suspected.