Ten years ago, the Campus MovieFest (CMF) was created by four students at Emory College. Six years ago, CMF was brought to Rollins’ campus as a fun way to allow people in the Rollins community to express their creative sides. On Feb. 17, All Campus Events (ACE) hosted Premiere Night at the Alfond Sports center where the top 16 movies were presented to a panel of judges as well as to those assembled in the gym. The night was complete with a red carpet, photographers and enough beaded necklaces to put any Mardi Gras celebration to shame.
At 7 p.m., the doors opened and the crowd spilled into the gym, buzzing with excitement as they waited for the movies to begin. After a brief introduction by a representative from the CMF organization and a member of ACE, they began playing the films.
The movies shown that night had been reviewed by the CMF officials and deemed good enough to make it to the final round. The movies were five minutes or less in length and their plots ranged from amusing stories about college life to more serious films about issues like body image. CMF is one of the most popular events on campus, with both students and faculty arriving dressed for a true red carpet event. As they waited for the doors to open, the attendees milled around the lobby, discussing the movies about to be shown.
“It’s something I wanted to do before I left Rollins,” said Tina Udhwani ’11. Sara Edlen ’12 added, “I’ve been going since my freshman year…as you get older, the more people in the films you know.”
They split the evening so that four movies were shown at a time, with fun festivities occurring between the sets. As more movies were shown throughout the night, familiar faces began coming up in different films. Brendan Monroe, a Holt student, appeared in three films while Julie Katz ’11 was featured in two.
The filmmakers were not the only people winning prizes at Premiere Night. There were also a few raffles that gave the audience members opportunities to win Apple products or Final Cut Studio software. Additionally, during a set break, CMF members ran on stage and launched CMF t-shirts into the eager crowd. However, it was obvious that everyone was gathered to find out the winners of the competition.
First, they announced the winner for Most Viewed Movie on YouTube. The film was called “A Team” and was about a man who loses his girlfriend and calls upon a team of men to help win her affection back. They then announced the winner of the next category, Best Comedy, “Making (More) Movies,” an amusing film about a few students trying to decide on a film genre.
The third category, Best Drama, went to “Love: Or a Moment Thereof,” which played the struggles of a young man trying to meet a pretty girl. Finally, “One Tall Step for Man,” a mockumentary about the challenges the tall students on our campus face every day won Best Picture and is now in the running to be included in the 2011 Grand Finale in Los Angeles.
After the winners were announced, all the filmmakers and actors were gathered on stage for pictures and to receive their prizes. “We have now achieved the greatest height of all, ”joked Ryan Lambert ’13, one of the makers of “One Tall Step for Man.”
Associate Professor of Religion Mario D’Amato, one of the directors of “Love: Or a Moment Thereof” also said, “[CMF is] probably my favorite event on campus because it’s great to see teams coming together to try to work out some common vision.”
If you are interested in winning prizes and having your video shown at Premiere Night, enter the 2012 CMF. Who knows, maybe your video will make it to next year’s Grande Finale in L.A.
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