Creative filmmakers share their work

By Chris Giancamilli

Photos courtesy of Jesus Yanez

This Spring, Cal State San Marcos will be holding the sixth annual Student Media Festival. The Student Media Festival is a celebration of the films of the creative minds on campus. The Visual and Performing Arts Department hold the event each spring on campus.

The festival allows students to use their creative prowess to produce a film for an audience. Furthermore, the festival highly encourages students to participate and submit their works for the chance to gain recognition from their peers. It also gives students the opportunity to be discovered by those in the film industry seeking new talent. Many entries will be accepted, however only a select few will be presented at the festival itself. The festival grows each year, so students are encouraged to polish their films early in order to increase their chances of being featured.

The pieces are judged by a jury of fellow students in a number of categories, which include Best Social Justice Project, Best Personal Memoir, Best Experimental/ Performance Work, Best Narrative, and Best Documentary. Past winners of these categories have received prizes such as Apple Store gift certificates, computer software and hardware, and cash prizes.

Students from all majors are welcome to participate and place their entry in the festival and are free to choose their own subjects. However, the film topics are dependant on the category they are competing for. Subjects in the past have ranged from the lighthearted such as bowling, cats, and jabs at film production to more serious topics like drugs, cancer, and foreign culture.

Johnathan Berman of the Communications Department explains, “What’s great about this festival is that it showcases and celebrates the creative work of students from across the campus and allows us to share this work with fellow students, friends, family, teachers, staff, and industry professionals.”

The festival is open to the public and admission is free and will be catered with free beverages and food. Last year’s festival was hosted by actor Jose Yenque who has been filmed in programs such as “Law and Order: SVU,” “CSI: Miami,” and the 2000 film “Traffic.”

The deadline for turning in films is in the spring, so there is plenty of time to start working on entries. The festival will take place sometime at the end of the Spring 2011 semester.

For more information, contact the CSUSM Visual & Performing Arts Department at (760) 750-4137 or Professors Minda Martin [email protected] and Kristine Diekman [email protected].