REBECCA HALE
Staff Writer
This weekend brings forth the fifth annual SUNYWide Film Festival and Symposium 2014 — this year with added workshops and opportunities for more students and even faculty to showcase their work and to receive critiques. From this Thursday, April 10, through Saturday, April 12, the festival will take Fredonia on both a learning experience as well as an entertaining showcase of the best films around.
Not sure what the Film Festival entails? It’s a competition between participating schools within the SUNY system where students submit films to be judged and chosen to be showcased here at SUNY Fredonia. There are also guest jurors who come in to speak to students and faculty and, this year, to even critique some of the films that may have not been showcased.
This year’s jurors include filmmaker/animator Tommy Hartung of Silver Creek and actor/producer Jeff Clark of Warren, PA. Hartung’s works are showcased in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City as well as the Dimitris Daskalopoulos Art Collection. Clark appeared in the films “Stranger” and “Wellness,” as well as the documentary, “War.”
Clark expressed his excitement toward the upcoming festival in an e-mail.
“I am eager to meet and talk with students and folks interested in film and to support them and the festival by sharing experiences together. I feel open conversations of like-thinking people produces opportunity and also sparks and ignites creation,” he said.
“I am truly excited to be involved with the SUNYWide student Film Festival 2014. It is a true honor to serve on your jury, an honor I respect. I look forward with excitement to viewing the submission and wish all filmmaker the best with this festival and their careers,” Clark added.
A new feature this year is a critique session hosted by Hartung where any student may bring in his or her work to show, and Hartung will provide constructive criticism. In addition, each juror will present a session of his own works and follow up with a Q&A session. Clark will also be presenting a discussion on his work as an actor and producer.
Also new this year is the presentation of a faculty symposium on “Teaching the Cinematic Arts,” in which professors and faculty will have the opportunity to discuss techniques in teaching film as well as the technology of film in education. There will also be a later faculty showcase, in which faculty will have the opportunity to view each other’s work.
Phil Hastings, Department of Visual Arts and New Media faculty member, professor and founder of the festival explained his thoughts on adding the symposium to the schedule.
“This is an opportunity for faculty to brainstorm and feed off of each other, maybe get some new, fresh ideas to try something new. I’m curious to see what other people are doing.”
The final new addition to the festival is an opportunity for students to submit papers on any topic in cinematic arts. Three papers were chosen out of those submitted; these will be presented by the students in 20-minute increments and will be followed by individual Q&A sessions during the festival. Kirsten Vine will represent Fredonia as one of the three chosen.
Hastings also explained the importance of written papers as film students will need to research and present information more in later years of college.
“I felt that it was really an important thing to start including not just the production of the cinematic arts, but the study of it,” he said.
This year, 116 student films were submitted to the festival from 17 different schools and 23 were picked from those to be in the showcase. Of those 23, six films will represent students from Fredonia. Filmmakers from Fredonia being showcased include Peter Iwasiwka, Jason Chadwick, Jaryd Petroski, Maisy Keller, Kyra Slawski and Rhiannon Vercant.
“This is the largest participation we’ve ever had,” said Hastings.
Chadwick, a junior animation and illustration major, has attended the festival the past two years but never submitted a film until this year. His film, “Wax,” will be showcased on Thursday evening.
“I was elated to hear I made it in!” Chadwick said, although he will be unable to attend the festival since he is currently studying abroad in Italy. “It’s kind of sad that I will be missing my film in the festival, but I’m really just excited that my film made it in at all.”
Chadwick explained that students shouldn’t be afraid to put themselves out there and submit their films.
“I would encourage people to enter simply because the competition brings all sorts of quality work together, and whether a submission makes it in or not, the festival is always a good thing to strive for, because it makes you push your piece to a certain level of quality,” he said.
Student films will be shown in two parts on Thursday and Friday evenings, and winners will be selected from those films by the jurors to be shown during the final event of the festival, the “Best of Fest” showcase. A full schedule of events for the festival can be found at http://www.sunywidefilmfestival.com.