NewsRelease

Innovative Filmmakers Take Home Prizes
 
GREENSBORO – More than $3,000 in prizes were awarded by the 26th annual Carolina Film and Video Festival Saturday, Feb. 22, when top young filmmakers from across the nation met at the Carolina Theatre for film screenings and an awards reception.

The festival is sponsored by the Department of Broadcasting and Cinema at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, in conjunction with the UNCG Department of Art. Rated by American Cinematographer among the best film schools in the country, the Department of Broadcasting and Cinema has recognized 300 films and videos as winners since the festival began as a one-day event in 1978.

A panel of media professionals judged a pool of 30 films that had been pre-screened from more than 160 submissions. The judges included Brenda Lilly, co-creator of the television program “State of Grace”; Leslie Hill, Emmy-nominated writer, director and producer; and Marian Keane, author and Alfred Hitchcock expert.

A total of nine awards were presented. All winners received a $300 prize. The winner of the Kodak Award for Best Cinematography also received $1,000 worth of film stock. Winning films and directors included:
 
• Best Independent Narrative and 2003 Kodak Award Winner – “Fudgie and Jane,” Drew Martin, Raleigh, N.C., 27 min.
• Best College/University Narrative – “Flirting with Death;” Matt Clements, American Film Institute, 20 min.
• Best Independent Documentary – “Sam McMillan: The Dot Man,” Mary Dalton, Jamestown, N.C., 15 min.
• Best College/University Documentary – “Atlantic City Scrabble,” Tom Lipscomb, UNCG, 17 min.
• Best Independent Experimental/Animation – “Bug Beat,” Tim Hynes, Mableton, Ga., 3 min.
• Best College/University Experimental/Animation  – “Intelligent Life,” Jeff Spoonhower, Rochester Institute of Technology, 6 min.
• The Screenwriting Award – “Forever Overheard,” Parker Bell, UNCG
• Albert Ahler Filmmaker Prize (honors the best film or video by a high school student) – “Late Veracity,” Will Hamilton, Russellville High School, Russellville, Ark., 19 min.

A new aspect of the festival this year was the relocation of Winners’ Night to the historic Carolina Theatre. John Jellicorse, professor of broadcasting and cinema, said the new venue strengthened the appeal of the event.

"Movement of the Winners' Night to the Carolina Theatre more than fulfilled our expectations for sharing the festival with the broader community.  The large and enthusiastic audience, made up primarily of townspeople, was greatly appreciated,” he said. "I was especially delighted to see the large number of filmmakers who attended the event.  The Filmmakers' Forum on Saturday, with representatives from four of the best films in the festival, was the best discussion of contemporary filmmaking that I've heard in some time.”

Festival organizers plan to return Winners' Night to the Carolina Theatre again Feb. 21, 2004.

The biggest winner of the night was “Fudgie and Jane,” directed by Drew Martin of Raleigh. The 27-minute film clinched awards in two categories – Best Independent Narrative and the 2003 Kodak Award Winner for Best Cinematography. The film creates a convincing world in which an ice cream store mascot in a whale costume falls in love with a college student. Keane described the film as “winningly romantic.”

“The film was beautifully shot and edited, and extremely well written,” she said. “It took the unusual risk, as a film, in seeking happiness for the lead pair and making us wish for their happiness too, and then gratified our wishes.”
Judges awarded the title of Best College Documentary Film to Tom Lipscomb of UNCG for his documentary, “Atlantic City Scrabble.” In this 17-minute film, a high school teacher leaves his family behind for a weekend Scrabble tournament in Atlantic City.

“The ‘Scrabble’ film was notable for its humanity,” Keane said. “The Scrabble tournament is obviously attended by people who are Scrabble fanatics, but there’s something wonderful about the passions people have and share. The filmmaker did not mock his subject or the people in the film; he honored them and in the end, we respected them too.”

Taking a more serious turn, the winning high school film was the cautionary story of a suicidal drug user. Will Hamilton of Russellville High School in Russellville, Ark., directed. Shot on location in Savannah, Ga., “Late Veracity” is a 19-minute narrative that Keane described as darkly surreal and “one of the most ambitious projects I’ve even seen by a high school student…a work of great passion and conviction.”

The festival was held Feb. 19-22 with film screenings at the Elliott University Center on UNCG’s campus and at the Carolina Theatre. The schedule of events also included filmmaker forums and interactive artist demonstrations that combined film and the Internet.
 

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