A University faculty member was recently given statewide recognition with the 2009 Louisiana Filmmaker of the Year award.Zack Godshall, the University’s screenwriter-in-residence, received the award at the New Orleans Film Festival, where he screened his latest film, a documentary called “God’s Architects.”The film chronicles five men who claim to be divinely inspired to create architectural monuments to God without funding or blueprints. Godshall said there are parallels between those builders and the career of a young filmmaker.”I don’t really work in the film industry, per se — I work in film, and I’m trying to get my film released in some form or fashion,” he said. “I’m definitely independent, and I related to [the builders] because of how independent and self-reliant they are.”Godshall said he is grateful for the Filmmaker of the Year award because of the benefits it will have for his film.”Anything like that helps to build a reputation for the film,” Godshall said. “It helps the film have a life outside of me.”In addition to buzz for the film, the award also comes with a prize. Godshall received a $2,500 gift certificate to Swelltone Labs, a sound-editing lab in New Orleans.The University also reaps the benefits of Godshall’s award, said Anna Nardo, English department chair. Students in the department’s creative writing program who are taught by an award-winning filmmaker will have an advantage when applying to film school, Nardo said.”Everybody wants to be a screenwriter, and the competition is fierce,” she said. “If our students can come with a recommendation from someone like Zack, with the               credentials he is amassing, that’s a real leg-up for them.”Nardo said faculty members like Godshall keep the University’s English department at a high quality, which has been recognized nationally.”Our MFA program in creative writing has already been ranked in the top 50 in the country,” Nardo said. “Zack is one of the writers that joins all our other writing faculty to bring that kind of national recognition.”Students who learn the filmmaking craft from someone like Godshall is important in the state’s current economic climate, Nardo said.”Sometimes people don’t think an English department can participate in workforce development,” Nardo said. “With the film industry in Louisiana taking off, [teaching screenwriting] is a big workforce development issue across the state. It’s about the cultural economy.”Balancing filmmaking and teaching a class can be difficult, Godshall said, but it is made easier by his love for both jobs. Godshall said time management is important to doing both, as is allowing his students to drive large portions of his classes.”I try to incorporate a lot of discussion because that’s the best thing about film or art,” he said. “That’s how I like to teach anyway, but it also helps with the time because it doesn’t require me making a PowerPoint every week.”Godshall is contracted as the University’s screenwriter-in-residence until spring 2012. He said he hopes to continue teaching as well as making films after then.He is currently shooting his next project, a “comic adventure” about a man dealing with a midlife crisis. The project had an interesting start — he set out to make a film with no budget. The actors are volunteers, and the crew consists of Godshall and a friend who works in sound recording.Godshall plans to screen “God’s Architects” for the first time in Baton Rouge in January. He is also independently distributing DVDs of the film on its Web site, godsarchitects.com.—————Contact Ryan Buxton at [email protected]