Winning over $30,000 in cash prizes, movie gear and professional gigs would be a dream come true for many up-and-coming moviemakers. Campus MovieFest makes all of this possible.
Student movies were collected after a week of shooting on Oct. 22. Tonight, the finale screening for the campus-wide level of CMF will take place in Ackerman Grand Ballroom with open admission.
The finale screening is a surprise reveal of the top 16 films selected to move on to the international level. The chosen movies, which are all five minutes or less, go on to compete against films from other universities in the last stage of the competition at a red carpet event in Hollywood. The 16 films premiering today are evenly split by category – eight comedies and eight dramas – and are chosen by a panel of student, staff and faculty judges.
While the most sought-after awards of the night are overall best picture, best drama and best comedy, there are other individual awards, including best actor, best actress, best director and best cinematography.
Regardless of the outcome, Andrew Sibner, a fourth-year psychology student who worked on two movies for CMF in post-production and technical aspects, said he looks forward to observing the audience’s reactions to the films.
All of the CMF moviemakers attending the screening are as clueless to the results as the rest of the student body.
Win or lose, Sibner is pleased with what he got out of the CMF experience.
“It’s very bonding,” Sibner said. “Collaborating with friends on a project in which all are equally motivated to do our best work.”
Contributing reports by Natalie Green, A&E; contributor.