Reel News
DVD Fest 2005 Brings Creativity and Quality Films
March 5th, 2005
By Karen Lee '07
This story is provided by Carleton News
Crowds of enthusiastic Carleton students gathered at Carleton’s Concert Hall last Saturday to take comfort with pre-final exam relief in the form of student-produced five-minute films. With many students seen waiting at the door as early as two hours prior to the commencement of the event, DVD Fest has become one of the most popular and highly-anticipated events of Carleton’s academic year.
Held annually as a student film festival, DVD Fest encourages all Carleton students to create short films for a public showing and judging. Apple computers and video cameras are given to ambitious student filmmakers, who then write, film and edit the films in less than two weeks, during which many students can be seen with cameras all over the Carleton campus. Stimulating creativity and diversity, many DVD Fest films are created by teams registering as residential floors or groups of friends.
For the last three months, junior Michael Moore, the host of the festival, has been busy organizing the event in association with the Carleton Macintosh User Group (CarlMug), a group he co-founded last year. Apple Computer, Inc. provided sponsorship and access to 10 iBook G4 computers on which students edit their respective films. In coordination with Carleton’s media services office, media relations office, Dean of Students office and residential life, Moore has had a large role in making this year’s festival an enormous success.
With the tag line, “26 films, 9 judges, 4 prizes,” DVD Fest 2005 proved to be just as, if not more successful than its predecessors. As Moore mentioned, with nine films submitted at the premier DVD Fest in 2002, the sensation of DVD Fest has intensified with its rapid increase in the number of contenders each year, rising to a whopping 26 films at this year’s festival. The large assortment of films shown included a submission from Carleton students on an off-campus studies program in Europe, a Japanese ninja film with English subtitles, a teen drama spoof and a music video exhibiting students’ creative interpretation of song lyrics.
Nearing the end of the three-hour affair, the nine judges proceeded to the back to make their final decision on the winning films. Honors ultimately went to third place’s “Today I Took A Bath,” a film shot with both live action and stop-motion animation and second place and audience choice’s “Friday Flowers,” a humorous and sweet account of a student attempting to obtain a girlfriend through the giving of flowers on Fridays, paying homage to the special Carleton tradition. The top prize went to first place’s “Grounded,” an ambiguous and cinematographically-stunning film depicting one man’s search for a mysterious woman. Honorable mentions went to “The Story of the Faculty Club Ghost” and “Mitch’s Glasses.” With last year’s winning films obtaining top honors at the regional film competition, this year’s winning films were awarded prize money and are also invited to participate in the competition.
For viewing of all films from DVD Fest 2005, see http://dvdfest.org.
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