Awards ceremony caps off Campus MovieFest
Hand out cameras, laptops equipped with editing software and AT&T smart phones to students and let them run wild for a week. As Campus MovieFest proved, the results end up showcasing a variety of clever and even insightful five-minute movies.
“I was really confident about our chances until about two hours before the event, then I started watching some of the movies we were up against and was really surprised at how they were,” said Alex Enman, director of “The Barbrarian,” winner of Best Picture.
The awards ceremony on March 25 saw the screening of 16 out of the 20 movies produced by UMass Lowell students.
Contrary to the attitude suggested by the set of spotlights parked behind Cumnock Hall, the event proceeded with little pomp and instead functioned as a celebration of the effort put forth on the part of the student directors and actors; those who won alongside those who did not.
“I was just really happy no one laughed during ours. No one wanted to see Sarah die,” said Cory Rasmussen, one half of “Behind the Curtain”, winner of Best Drama.
Given the week time limit on entries, every aspect of the filmmaking was a blitz affair, all the way from writing the script, or just working out an idea, to the editing.
“Really I just wanted an excuse to wear fatigues and face cameo,” said Rebecca Yoakum, the actress who played the titular character in “The Barbrarian”.
Filming was especially brutal as far as time went. “Behind the Curtain” took roughly three solid days of filming and was being edited almost up to the minute on the day of the deadline according to Rasmussen. The climatic scene where he discovers co-star Sarah Breunig lying in a bathtub full of blood was especially problematic.
“I [got] really hungry. I couldn’t move because of continuity, so [Rasmussen] had to feed me a toaster strudel… My wrists were stained for days [after that scene]. Everything else washed off, but not my wrists,” said Breunig.
Still, celebration aside, the event was an awards ceremony and when it was over “The Barbrarian” and “Behind the Curtain” stood on top along with “Namaste Williams: New Age Pianist” winner of Best Comedy and “Stalk” winner of the AT&T Golden Mobile Award, which was awarded for most creative use of the AT&T phone the filmmakers were provided with.
There was one award that was not given out that night. The AT&T Wildcard Award will be awarded on April 1 to the video that garners the most American Idol style text in votes. The text codes that pertain to each film can be found online at the Campus MovieFest website. Just visit the event page from the main page, scroll over the Northern tab and click on UMass Lowell.
All the movies that took home awards will be participating in regional festivals with the other winners of the same award at other schools on May 1.
Winner, Best Picture
“The Barbrarian”
Prize - $300, an iPod nano, an Elgato eyeTV hybrid, and a copy of Final Cut Studio
Entry into the CMF Regional Grand Finale
Director – Alex Enman
Actors - Alex Enman, Rebecca Yoakum, Mario Boiardi, Ben Wheat, Seth “Shep” Rohrer and Christina Petrone
Description – Punished with a thirty page paper for talking in class, two friends (Wheat and Boiardi) head to the library to do research. When they arrive Boiardi cautions Wheat against breaking library rules, least he anger the Barbrarian (Yoakum) who is known to break arms to silence ringing telephones. Wheat of course does not listen and tears some pages out of a book in defiance…the rest of the movie deals with how smart that proved to be.
Winner, Best Drama
“Behind the Curtain”
Prize - $150, an iPod shuffle, an Elgato eyeTV hybrid, and a copy of Final Cut Studio
Entry into the CMF Regional Grand Finale
Director - Cory Rasmussen
Actors - Cory Rasmussen, Sarah Breunig
Description – A film completely sans dialogue, “Behind the Curtain” follows a man (Rasmussen) wanders listlessly around Boston, struggling to deal with the passing of a woman (Breunig). The relationship between the two is never explicitly states, but it is clear she is someone he loves. Rasmussen finds Breunig lying dead in a bathtub filled with her blood, and the movie slows to a crawl, as the camera slowly revolves around the scene mimicking the shock and inability to process Rasmussen’s character is experiencing.
Winner, Best Comedy
“Namaste Williams: New Age Pianist”
Prize - $150, an iPod shuffle, an Elgato eyeTV hybrid, and a copy of Final Cut Studio
Entry into the CMF Regional Grand Finale
Directors - Alexandra Derderian and Charlie Gregson
Actors – Andrue Coombes, Brendan Hegarty, Michael Lefman, Michael Church, Katie Johnson, Shawna Martin
Description – An interview of Namaste (Gregson) interspaced with commentary from his close family in friends in the style of an E! Biography piece. The movie is masterfully arranged from start to finish, with Namaste spouting things like, “The Merrimack River, it’s really the Ganges of the western hemisphere,” and shots of the character playing grand piano while rubbing his face all along the top of it.
Winner, AT&T Golden Mobile Award
“Stalk”
Prize - A clip from the winning movie will screen at the Southern Regional Grand Finale, and compete against other Golden Mobile winners for a two new Samsung phones and prize pack from AT&T.
Directors – Tarryn Rossetti and Jon De Alderete
Actors – Brittany Lannan and Jeff Doyle
Description – Another film sans dialogue, “Stalk” features a girl (Lannan) meticulously preparing a peanut butter sandwich each morning and setting out to sit on a bench by a particular hole in the ground. Highly reminiscent of Neil Gaiman’s short film “Statuesque”, this routine goes on for weeks before the audience finally finds out what Lannan is up to at the end of the film. “Stalk” is one of those ideas that look a lot better in execution than it sounds on paper.
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