In one year’s time, the Communication across the Curriculum (CxC) Digital Media Festival has earned its place on the Baton Rouge festival map along the ranks of Red Stick Animation Festival and Outhouse Film Festival.
This past weekend, the University’s CxC program held its second showcase, displaying LSU’s and other schools’ talents in digital media.
Whereas last year’s presentation was a small film festival, graduate representative Joey Watson said the festival’s goal this year was to include all forms of digital media.
“We tried to blanket the whole field,” Watson said. “The criterion for submissions was the work had to include a digital media format in some way. Other than that, the only other criterion was, ‘Are you a student?'”
The response to this year’s festival was immense, growing from 17 submissions last year to 154 this year.
The festival displayed short film, photography, animation and broadcast journalism submissions.
Graduate assistant Rachel Spear said the festival caught more attention because of the growth of the CxC studios.
“Things were done on a shoestring last year,” Spear said. “But we built a good core, and now we have four studios for students to work on various projects.”
Along with the addition of studios, this year’s festival garnered the attention of more than 10 sponsors, who provided prize money and gift certificates.
Two of the biggest sponsors were two University deans. The Guillermo Ferryra, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, chipped in $300 toward an award, while the Dr. Kevin Carman, dean of the College of Basic Sciences, provided $150.
One of the main objectives of the program is to provide an outlet for students to reach across their major and try something different, Spear said.
For example, a biology major can direct a documentary about a poisonous worm and submit the work for judging – which is exactly what biology senior Rohan Dhurandhar did this year.
Dhurandhar was awarded the first place Basic Sciences Dean Award, worth $75, for his documentary, “The Barber Pole Worm.” The film focused on a worm that infects a sheep and bleeds it dry, making sheep farming problematic in Louisiana.
Dhurandhar said that the CxC studios were “very accommodating.”
“LSU has a growing film community, and I’m glad to be a part of it,” Dhurandhar said.
Travis H. Williams, general studies sophomore with minors in theater, film and media arts and English, won the Arts & Sciences Dean Award for his short film “Petrouchka.” The silent short, based on the ballet by Stravinsky, put $300 in Williams’ pocket.
Though he is only a sophomore, Williams is a part of local film company Hedges Pictures and has made three feature films and around five short films.
“Petrouchka” was his first submission for the festival, and he said the experience was exciting for him.
“I’m glad there’s another event like Outhouse and Red Stick,” Williams said. “It shows that there is enough interest, and there are enough submissions to warrant another festival.”
Matthew Seamster won two awards for his short film, “One Year Later.”
He won the Best of … Film and Video award, and the Kaplan Award, which was worth a free Kaplan educational course valued at up to $1,849.
In his winning essay for the award, Seamster said he would use the gift certificate to take a Kaplan course that he needs to get accepted to New York University.
Lillian Bridwell-Bowles, director of CxC and English professor, said she was pleased with the output of submissions this year.
“I’m astounded with the level and amount of student talent we have on campus,” Bridwell-Bowles said. “This year, we had an incredibly capable staff. The festival is about people who are excited about digital media.”
Kevin DiBenedetto, coordinator for the Arts & Sciences Communication Studios, thinks this year’s festival was a success, mentioning the growing number of submissions and the two feature films from local directors Zack Godshall and Glen Pitre.
“It grew ten times bigger as far as number of submissions,” DiBenedetto said. “We also had two directors screen their films.”
Next year, DiBenedetto said he would like to incorporate film and media workshops, screen bigger films and get students more involved with the CxC program.
—-Contact Matthew Sigur at [email protected]