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Student awards

Rama paints at Oregon Zoo

Scene from "The Last Bogatyr"

Thirteen student films received awards in the 2010 U.S. International Film & Video Festival, including four winners from the Denver School of the Arts. Winners also include the teen-age daughter of a veteran California filmmaker, and a graduate student at the University of Southern California. Student winners also came from Toronto’s De LaSalle College, New York University, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and the University of Notre Dame.

The Denver School of the Arts winners were Annie Martens, Quinn Painter, Yasmine Hill, Chantal Rand, Walker Thulson and Kathryn Kolouch. Their works included “Art is Here” featuring Pat Dubrava, a creative writing teacher at the school, in a production highlighting the value of the arts; “Synthesia,” a documentary about the brain condition; “Taste,” about a boy who learns he likes human flesh, and “The Mystical Tale of the Platypusicorn,” about the demise of the platypusicorn.

Arabella Weston-Smith of California’s Laguna Blanca School won for a documentary on “Phelophepa: Train of Hope,” filmed in Africa in 2009. Tony Cammarata, an MFA Film-Television Production student at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, won for his first animation film, “Dancer and the Red Ball.” The film also utilizes motion capture technology for the dancer's performance. Tony studied film at the University of Minnesota and the University of Bologna in Italy. He lives in Los Angeles.

Two groups of Grade 11 filmmakers from De LaSalle College won with 3-minute videos they shot for a school film festival as part of a Media Arts class. “Del State of Mind” was patterned after the Jay-Z and Alicia Keys song/video, “Empire State of Mind.” All shots were done on campus, lyrics were written, and the project was completed in two weeks. “Making Break’o” applied stop motion animation to 1,500 still images of plasticine figurines to create a video of that has no sound, but relies on motion of its small characters who explore their setting – including a toaster.

“Steenbeckstory,” a three-minute film from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts was made for a third year graduate Directing Projects class taught by instructor Laura Belsey. The film, written and directed by Marie Dvorakova, suggests what might happen to the editor who loses a single frame while in the process of piecing together a masterpiece. Michael Sassano, from NYU’s School of Visual Arts, produced "Excerpts From Suki’s Diary," a memoir of a day in the life of Suki, a French-speaking domestic cat. “Quietly,” written and directed by Cole Wiley of NYU, takes viewers on a journey where answers are not so easily found as a teen-ager takes risks to save his mother from an abusive relationship.

Sarah Lotfi of the University of Colorado directed "The Last Bogatyr," about a young Russian's reaction to the brutalities he witnesses within his own army. Keven Beechwood produced the film by White Cloud Films LLC.

A Notre Dame College of Arts & Letters Learning Beyond the Classroom Grant funded the production, “Trunk!,” from Alex Wheeler and Mark Lyons of Alemar Films. They are students at the University of Notre Dame Film, TV and Theatre Undergraduate Production Program. The film features Jeb Barsh, an animal trainer with the Portland Zoo, and his wife, Chiara Thayler, as they explain how the zoo’s male Asian elephants have been kept away from social interaction because of beliefs regarding breeding, but that this is changing, and keepers now engage the elephants to keep them both healthy and happy in captivity. Ted Mandell was the faculty advisor for the project. The film was also featured in the school’s 2010 student film festival.

The student productions were judged by teams led by Dr. Jim Dufek and Michael Marshall. Dufek is professor of mass communication at Southeast Missouri State University. He has a master’s degree in radio/television/film with a minor in theatre production from the University of South Dakota and a doctoral degree from the University of Illinois-Carbondale (SIU) where he majored in journalism/mass communication with a minor in television.

Michael Marshall is an independent television and film producer who began his career with the BBC and then set up Cinécosse production house based in Scotland. He has been associated with Filmfest since 1987.

Teens film ‘Train of Hope’

Filming triage

Patients line up for care

Weston-Smith on site

Arabella Weston-Smith is 17 and a high school senior at Laguna Blanca in Santa Barbara, Calif., who in 2009 was part of a student team that traveled to Africa to spend a week on the Phelophepa train in Zululand.

This train each year travels throughout South Africa to take medical treatment to some 45,000 people who otherwise would not see a doctor. In June 2008, another student team shot a short documentary to be used for fundraising and awareness for the Transnet Foundation that operates the train. Arabella Watters, also a student at Laguna Blanca, was on the second camera and wrote the screenplay for “Phelophepa, Train of Hope.” The 14-minute documentary was narrated by Arabella Weston-Smith’s father, Richard Weston-Smith, CEO of Brainstorm Creative. It was produced by her mother, Kirsten Cavendish, Brainstorm’s founder. John V. Fante was the editor, and photography was by Arabella Weston-Smith and Jason Veitch, who is a student at Gulliver Prep in Pinecrest, Fla.

Arabella has taken film classes at her school since age 13, creating mostly short films for assignment. The Hope Train film was her first major film effort, although as the daughter of two film producers she helped out on sets and appeared in some of her mother’s films.

She said her dad was her number one choice as narrator because “he is eloquent and experienced.”

The trip in Africa opened her eyes to a whole new way of life, she said. “It also humbled me and gave my 16-year-old self a reality check. Every day I learned something new about the people and was able to interact with them in a way that people in America don't do. They were so open and friendly and there was a trust and respect that the people have for each other that I haven't seen before.”

“Every day we just kind of went with the flow on the train, and we didn't really have any major situations because everyone was so flexible and open to us being there. We had thought that the masses of people would prove an obstacle to getting the shots we needed, but it actually ended up being OK.”

Based on her experience, Arabella suggested young filmmakers need to be aware that things don’t always go according to plan. “You just have to adapt and go for it. Be ready for any shot however long it may take. Also, I think another really important thing young filmmakers need to remember is to be respectful. Making this film was so fun and smooth for us because we always tried to remember that we are in someone else's territory, and it's a privilege to be there.

”We connected with the people and the doctors, and we listened to them and, most importantly, we tried to make it so that we could get the shots and not get in the way, so that the doctors can do their work as efficiently as if we weren't there.”

In mid-June, Arabella left for Cape Town, South Africa, to do an internship at Film Afrika. “I just really want to gain some more experience in the film world, and by doing an internship instead of my own movie I get to learn more about the production side of big Hollywood films,” she said.

For more information, visit www.trainofhopemovie.com.

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