The University of Alabama will host The Campus MovieFest Finale Thursday in the Ferguson Ballroom at 7:30 p.m., where 16 films created by UA students last month will be screened, judged and awarded.
Forty-six films were submitted by UA students for last year’s competition, and J.R. Hardman, promotions manager for Campus MovieFest, said there was even more participation in 2013 from students at the Capstone.
“We’re really excited because even more teams participated and created even more movies than last year,” Hardman said.
The 16 films that will be screened Thursday were chosen by an anonymous panel of student and faculty judges who deemed them the best in this year’s competition.
CMF is the world’s largest student film festival and a premier outlet for future movie makers that allows students to create videos for either fun or to kickstart their careers in filmmaking. Participating in CMF is free and requires only a team captain and crew members that attend the University.
(See also “Film takes student from Campus MovieFest to Cannes, France”)
More than 100 schools are participating in the festival this year, but Hardman said he expected the competition from Alabama to be fierce, both regionally and nationally.
“The films made at UA have been excellent in the past and have gone on to be nominated and win prizes on the National at CMF Hollywood before,” Hardman said. “I think everyone is going to be blown away by the talent of their fellow students, as well as have a great time seeing what they’ve accomplished.”
Each film is approximately five minutes in length and content ranges from comedies to dramas, depending on each participant’s interest.
Three of the 16 screened films from UA participants win the Best Comedy, Best Drama, and Best Picture awards, and their crews will claim prizes including directors’ chairs and a 12-month subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud. Those top three will advance to national competition to compete in Hollywood, Calif., in June. The winner in UA’s Best Picture category will also be invited to attend the Cannes Film Festival in France.
Adam Hofer, a junior majoring in economics and finance, shot a video for the festival that explores the mind of someone who is planning on committing a school shooting and how they can be stopped.
“I’ve been interested in the filmmaking process since middle school and have always loved making and studying films, Hober said. “When I heard the competition was free and provided equipment and the opportunity to meet professionals in California and Cannes, I knew it was right up my alley.”
All films were filmed and edited in the span of one week unless special permission was granted for movies that contain scenes that required longer amounts of time to film.
“Doing this really helped sharpen my cinematography skills,” said Hofer. “I tried new styles of shooting and implemented some aspects that I had read about.”
Tonight’s festival concludes Alabama’s sixth year participating in the festival. The screening of the University’s top 16 films Thursday is free to attend, and the doors of the Ferguson Center Ballroom will open at 6:30 p.m. so students can arrive early, walk the red carpet and take photos. The screening of the films begins at 7:30 p.m.
If You Go…
What: Campus MovieFest Finale
Where: Ferguson Center Ballroom
When: 6:30 p.m.
Also in today’s Crimson White:
Group brings film and brews to Bama Theatre for Groundhog Day
