Film Festivals

New England’s Student Films Find their Scene

1 Jun , 2007  

Written by Randy Steinberg | Posted by:

From June 14-16, college and university student filmmakers from across the country -- including a strong contingent from New England -- will descend on Wilmington, North Carolina for the inaugural Scene First Student Film Festival.

On thousands of college campuses across the country and the world, students diligently write, shoot, and edit films. Often, the next step is to take these films onto the film festival circuit, but student filmmakers have trouble getting exposure at tremendously competitive fests such as Sundance, Slamdance, Telluride, and many others.  

Enter Chip Rives, a partner of Campus Entertainment. With offices in Boston, Campus Entertainment focuses on the creation of programs and events for the college market. “We looked at the festival market,” Rives, explains, “and felt there really was not a major national or international festival dedicated solely to student filmmakers. Our goals are to highlight all of the great student filmmakers and give them a venue in which to show their work to the industry and the public.” 

Scene First secured sponsorship from EUE/Screen Gems. The company’s president, Frank Capra Jr. (son of legendary filmmaker Frank Capra), will serve as the festival’s honorary chair.  The hope is that students showing their work at Scene First will get access and exposure to the film industry — opportunities that are normally hard to come by. 

Rives says, “We partnered with a number of schools in New England and hope to expand that list next year. With each of our partner schools we agreed to accept at least one film and to promote their film programs at the event.”  This year’s New England partners include Boston College, Boston University, Hampshire College, Massachusetts College of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, and Wesleyan University.   

Chris Messina of Boston University (BU) has high expectations for his short film Little White Flowers, an entry in Scene First’s narrative category. The film found inspiration in the works of 19th-century writers Washington Irving and Edgar Allan Poe.  Little White Flowers is a psychological thriller whose main character’s troubled mind creates much of his torment.  

The film has already garnered a festival award, earning second place honors in BU’s 2007 Redstone Film Festival. Messina hopes he can claim another prize at Scene First, but he is humble and feels that being selected is gratifying in itself. He says, “All I really hope for is a good turn out and that there will be some people who enjoy the film. Maybe it will lead to something down the line, a future collaboration, or an invitation to another screening, but who knows. If it doesn’t, it still feels like there’s some kind of forward momentum, and that’s always a good thing.” 

Charles Merzbacher is one of Messina’s professors at BU and also the chair of BU’s Film and Television Department. He is excited about Messina’s success with Little White Flowers and enthusiastic about what Scene First can do for student filmmakers. Merzbacher says, “Most showcases for student work rely exclusively on the gumption of student filmmakers — it’s just a big open call. Gumption is all well and good, but this approach doesn’t necessarily connect festivals with the most interesting work.”   

He explains that because the Scene First organizers reached out to established film schools, they are tapping into shorts that have already passed muster at some level. “By engaging film programs like ours as consultants, in effect, they’re letting us tell them, ‘You’ve got to see this.’” 

Regarding Chris Messina’s Little White Flowers, Merzbacher says, “If there’s any justice in the world, Chris Messina’s film will play at every festival worth its salt. It’s a beautiful, thought-provoking movie.”  

Another interesting entry from a New England student filmmaker is Water Creature: Chimsu by Y. Grace Park of the Rhode Island School of Design. An animated piece, the film pays homage to haiku. Park states, “The inspiration for my film began in a workshop where we took imagery from different haikus and animated them. The haiku I chose was by an unknown writer, about a train and a leaf.” 

Another animated film entered into Scene First comes from Evan Viera of Hampshire College. His film, Sycamore Eve, has a sci-fi feel. In it the planet Sycamore has been inhabited by a mechanical race that is rapidly destroying its environment. Machines harvest the planet’s most sacred resource — the fuel responsible for all life on the planet. About his film, Viera states, “The animation draws upon themes of imagination, creativity and industrialization. It also strives to create a unique cinematic experience where picture and sound are intricately fused.” 

And from Wesleyan University comes Peter Letz’s Life, Death, Afterlife. Letz mysteriously — and comically at that — describes his film as, “One man. One impenetrable hair. One run-away brain chunk.” 

The Scene First Film Festival will award prizes for both short and feature-length films in traditional categories such as narrative, documentary, and animation. But Scene First has no intention of excluding avant-garde and new technology filmmakers, offering awards in experimental film and the still evolving cell phone short film.   

Chip Rives can’t wait for the festival to begin. He envisions Scene First becoming the Sundance of student film festivals. He says, “It’s amazing how many talented young people are out there, and the quality of films submitted has been great. We are already three years ahead of where we thought we would be in terms of excitement and buzz around the event.” 

Though most colleges and universities have let out for the summer, for student filmmakers from New England and around the country and the world, class remains in session at Scene First.

To learn more about The Scene First Student Film Festival, visit www.scenefirstfestival.com.

Randy Steinberg is a screenwriter and the motion picture industry coordinator for Boston University. Visit his website at www.scriptsages.com.

Related Image: Y. Grace Park's water creature.


To learn more about The Scene First Student Film Festival, visit www.scenefirstfestival.com. Randy Steinberg is a screenwriter and the motion picture industry coordinator for Boston University. Visit his website at www.scriptsages.com.

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