Campus MovieFest (CMF) celebrated youthful dreams and refreshing entertainment created by Emory undergraduate filmmakers last Friday night. The short film Temporality championed the categories of Best Picture, Best Cinematography and Best Director.
Originated at Emory University in 2001, CMF showcases the works of aspiring young college filmmakers across the nation.
In this year’s competition, 16 of the 31 short films submitted were chosen as finalists by the judges. All were screened in the Emerson Concert Hall of the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts.
Of those, four were nominated for the Golden Tripod Awards (GTAs): Devil’s Advocates by Amazing Professional Pictures, Temporality by Let the Boys Watch Productions and More than the Other by Vincent Ryu’s Crew and Jolly Records. The GTAs recognize the best features of CMF films, which include and are not limited to exuberant acting performance, superb editing jobs and cutting-edge storylines. Those who received this award will continue to have their work featured in CMF Hollywood in June 2013.
Temporality, a love story about a man’s desperation to preserve the presence of his deceased lover through a social networking website, was the biggest winner of the night and took home the Audience Award, Campus Best Picture and Campus Best Cinematography in addition to their GTA nomination. This cutting-edge story line questions the immortality of our virtual existence.
For this stop motion film, College senior Matthew Schwartz won Campus Best Director. Schwartz’s previous work includes the famous Emory Anthem video. Schwartz claims that his passion for filmmaking began when he was in the seventh grade. At that time, he requested his teachers let him make short films instead of writing essays for his classes. His teachers were skeptical of the idea at first. However, they began to encourage him as they recognized his talent. A current film study major and student at the Goizueta Business School, Schwartz believes that filmmaking is an art form that he wishes to pursue for the rest of his life.
More than the Other, a music video about a parted couple and their struggle to cope with the breakup, also received a GTA nomination. It won Campus Best Original Soundtrack, which was written and sung by Vincent Ryu and featured David Youbin Kim.
A story about the entangled lives of two girls, The Bus Stop won Campus Best Drama and Campus Best Story. Kelly Spicer received Best Actress for this movie for playing a ruthless college belle, who is eventually victimized by an unexpected twist. Minkyung Sung, the creator of the story, hopes to shed a light on the issues of peer pressure and sexual abuse.
Devil’s Advocate, a short comedy about a student group on campus with trouble recruiting new members, won the campus best actor award for the wicked performance by Tom Cassaro.
The other campus finalists includes In Memory by team 3XL, The Roommate Agreement by SG Production, Drops of Gold by Miller’s Marauders, We Wandered Under the Same Cloud that Day by John Kim’s Crew, Orange Girl by Team Delva, The Phone Diary by Laffy Tupin Production, Rock, Paper, Scissors by Fighting Hens, Walking Permitted by Jeffrey Shiau’s Production, Numb by Bush Jumping Productions, CTRL+Y by AmAteur Films and Adante by Viewtiful Production.
Available for viewing online, all videos are eligible for the Emory Wildcard Winner prize, where the movie with the most views at 12 a.m. on March 27 will be chosen as the Emory CMF wildcard winner and a chance to be screened during CMF Hollywood.
– By Uyen Hoang
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