Thank you to all who made this year's VISIONS so spectacular.
On April 1st, 2011, the inaugural UNCW Visions Film Festival and Film Scholars Conference, an event organized by undergraduate students for undergraduate film students, took place in Lumina Theater at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. This all-day event, developed, managed, programmed, promoted and hosted by film majors in the Film Studies 492: VISIONS course, featured several prominent undergraduate filmmakers and scholars from around the globe, thrilled for the opportunity to display their hard work to an audience of peers and regional film enthusiasts. While the festivities may have ended that evening, the impact of Visions, and its impression on guests and participants alike, is still fresh in everyone’s mind.
Keynote Speaker Isaiah Powers, whose film Dried Up won the 2009 Silver Student Academy Award for animation, was particularly impressed with the depth and variety of discussion sparked by the festival and conference. “It was awesome to see the broad range of ideas, colorful histories and cultural styles that were all brought together,” Powers said. “You don't get from studying Bollywood films to ideas of tertium quid to horror in any other event!”
The well-attended conference blocks provided a solid foundation for this discussion, as undergraduate film scholars from around the world began the day with a cultural exchange in the language of cinema. The inclusion of prevalent topics, ranging from the present use of computer-generated imagery within cinema, to a challenge and reexamination of Tom Gunning’s article of the Cinema of Attractions, allowed both scholars and attendees to establish an evolving academic dialogue.
Matthew Hepburn, a film scholar from University of Warwick, who discussed the latter of the two topics mentioned, noted, “By having a separate space for creative and academic individuals to discuss and evaluate each others' work, it produced a great sense of purpose and personal achievement, which I have learnt is vital in broadening one's mind and encouraging a proactive personality. The VISIONS Film Festival & Conference left me with a distinct impression of the film community as passionate, profound and inspiring.”
Just as scholars and filmmakers had an opportunity to bond as a closely knit, undergraduate film community, the VISIONS staff had an opportunity to explore the possibilities of turning an experience like planning Visions into a career. “Both the VISIONS class and VISIONS event equated into a whole much larger than the sum of its parts,” Ryan Jaccard, a member on the VISIONS staff stated. “The class enabled me to learn the intricacies of programming a small festival, allowing me to indulge in what we had created; a much needed outlet for undergraduates who are developing their craft with, at times, no outside voices,”. Andy Myers, VISIONS Public Relations Coordinator agreed saying, “VISIONS was one of the most rewarding experiences of my undergraduate career. I was assigned real world tasks and was able to see real world results. Whether it was seeing my writing published in the newspaper, or giving out prizes, it was very satisfying to do work for an actual purpose.”
However, VISIONS was as much an exercise in learning as it was in celebrating the unadulterated joys of film. Staff, scholars, filmmakers, and guests alike were reminded that just because something is academic, doesn’t mean it cannot be fun and entertaining as well. “It felt more exciting than film school feels right now,” Bryn Silverman, USC student and director of the film, Written (which was awarded the prize for Best Experimental Film) commented. “Immediately, it became apparent that we were all positive-thinking people who were eager to enter the film world. The way VISIONS organized events and structured the weekend really facilitated the closeness we all felt for each other by the end. It was really important that we met each other and had a chance to socialize before the actual event—because we all felt very supportive and proud when we experienced each others' work.” Felix Thompson, an entrepreneurial filmmaker from NYU reiterated this sentiment, stating “It was an immense pleasure to be a part of something that wasn't about the business of cinema but rather about celebrating movies themselves.”
As far as the film screenings go, the audience was treated to an impressive diversity of form and style ranging from 16mm and Super 8, to high end digital; from narrative and documentary to experimental and animation. Felix Thompson continued to elaborate on the inspiring collision of different mediums, saying “VISIONS brought together young critics and theoreticians with writers, directors and animators to try and get some glimpse of what cinema ought to be in the modern era.” Jaclyn Gramigna, another NYU student and director of the Visionary Award winning film Infallible, was similarly astonished by the breadth of creativity present: “Their passions were contagious and a challenge to everyone present, to keep creating and experimenting”.
In a world that is changing every day, film may seem an intimidating medium to get into. This is further complicated by the needless disunion that forms between the critical studies of film and the actual practice of filmmaking. However, as Joselyn McDonald, a recent graduate of UNCW and director ofLatranalia carefully observed, “I find that many filmmakers and film scholars say the same kinds of things, but on opposite sides of the rooms; there tends to be a divide. NOT AT VISIONS! Because our group was mixed from the very onset we were somewhat forced to learn about things that I may never have realized I had a keen interest in.” McDonald also addressed the possibility for future artists in the film industry. “The paper about Enter the Void's proper use of CGI reaffirmed in me the belief that those of us that refuse to use CGI still have a place in filmmaking. Once again, I found that after attending VISIONS I was alive again with the energy to pursue my path in filmmaking.”
In the end, perhaps Melika Hadziomerovic, an undergraduate scholar from the University of Florida whose paper onNostalgia in Transnational Cinema was featured at the conference, put it best: “When you go to a movie theater, there is something mystical about sitting in complete darkness and allowing the world created on screen to envelop your perception, your reality. The inevitable trick of this experience is that you can see the world, but it is only palpable in so much as you allow the film to emotionally affect you. Here is where the uncanny nature of VISIONS comes into action—the reality touches you. When the lights go on, you get the sense that you are no longer in the trick, so to speak. The people around you—filmmakers and critics alike—take the magic that they’ve created and place it into your hands. It is an experience that doesn’t allow you leave the theater without being moved.” The staff of VISIONS, along with festival director, Shannon Silva, are already hard at work to continue this magic next year. The second annual UNCW VISIONS Film Festival and Film Scholars Conference, which will be lead by an entirely new team of young and talented undergraduate film students, is tentatively scheduled for late March 2012.
No comments:
Post a Comment