Most Bowdoin students love watching films, but there are also those Bowdoin students who love to make films. Next Saturday, The Bowdoin Film Society will host the annual Student Film Festival, where the Bowdoin community will have the opportunity to watch a series of student-made films.
The spring film festival is different from the popular 48-hour film festival that takes place in the fall. While the fall festival invited students to make spur-of-the-moment films, the spring festival allows students to dive into filmmaking. Students who submit to the spring festival have months to prepare their films for submission.
The Film Society began accepting submissions on April 29, and will select the winning film from the nine total submissions prior to the screening on May 15.
While the group will still be accepting submissions until May 13, films submitted after April 29 will be shown in the festival but will not be judged for the competition.
Luke Delahanty '10, President of the Film Society, expects more films to be submitted before the festival.
"There were a lot of technical difficulties for some groups, and some others just didn't get things thrown together soon enough, so there could be five other films shown out of competition that will be made before the festival in the coming two weeks," said Delahanty.
All classes are represented in the competitive film pool except for the first year class.
"However, I've spoken to three [first years] who hope to put something in [the festival] out of competition," said Delahanty.
Delahanty did notice some trends in the topics covered by the competition pieces in the film festival.
"This year I feel like a theme that runs through most of the submissions is star-crossed love," said Delahanty.
"Most of the submissions involve varying degrees of love between a man and woman that range from pedophilia to pure and is doomed for varying reasons," he added.
After the competition pieces were submitted, film students made nominations for the winner.
After watching each nominated work, a group of faculty film scholars will choose the final winners.
On the night of the festival, an additional award will be given to the audience's favorite film.
The official judging is based on loose criteria, such as "excellence in the use of audio...to supplement or enhance the overall effect of the film" for the Best Sound category and "for excellence in assembly, creative alteration, and overall flow of shots to create a film" for the Best Editing category.
There are 10 categories in which films have been nominated: Best Actor, Actress, Supporting Player, Sound, Original Score, Writing, Cinematography, Editing, Director and Picture.
The winners in each category receive a gift certificate to Bart and Greg's DVD Explosion and a polar bear statuette.
While putting together a film is a tedious process, Delahanty said he relishes the experience of being a part of the film festival. "It's something that you struggle through to complete but have a lot of fun doing."
"The feeling when you finish and get to see the vision that has been playing in your head for so long up on the big screen is unbeatable," he added.
The films will be shown to the public on May 15 at 7 p.m. in Smith Auditorium, Sills Hall. There will be a small reception preceding the film festival in the lobby.
Those that missed out on this year's festival will be able to compete in the 48-hour film festival in the fall or the film festival next spring.
Delahanty encourages students to try filmmaking and experience the behind-the-scenes process.
"The camera is like a new little eye you get to look through, and when you take charge behind it you end up learning a lot more about business, art, people and the world that you'd think possible, both on and off the screen," he said.
SPRING 2010 NOMINATIONS
Best Actor: Clint Trenkelbach—The Dreamer; Mo Bader—A Final Flash; Alexi Thomakos—Lullaby, Rob Hughes—Will You Please Be Quiet, Please.
Best Actress: Chelsea Germeyan —A Final Flash; Nicole Roccaforte —Revenge; Lauren Gesswein—The Dreamer; Ursula Morena-VanderLaan—Will You Please Be Quiet, Please
Best Supporting Player: Khaalil LeSaldo—Love at First Fight; Kathleen Lewis—Love at First Fight; Bryant Johnson—A Final Flash; Bryant Johnson—Will You Please Be Quiet, Please.
Best Sound: Lullaby; Love at First Fight; Revenge; Documentary about Buses.
Best Original Score: The Nevermask and the Everone; Won't Let It Go; A Final Flash.
Best Writing: Revenge; The Nevermask and the Everone; Documentary About Buses; A Final Flash.
Best Cinematography: Lullaby, A Final Flash, Will You Please Be Quiet, Please, The Dreamer, The Nervermask and the Everone
Best Editing: Lullaby, Revenge, The Dreamer, The Nevermask and the Everone, A Final Flash
Best Director: Nicole Roccaforte —Revenge; Lucas Delahanty—A Final Flash; Alex Colby, Max Taylor, and Alexi Thomakos—Lullaby; Lucas Delahanty—The Nevermask and the Everone; Peter Griesmer—Will You Please Be Quiet, Please.
Best Picture: The Nevermask and the Everone; A Final Flash; Lullaby; Will You Please Be Quiet; Please, Revenge.