5 Minute Film Festival student features short films and chance to submit one film in the prestigious Nashville Film Festival
Lacey Klotz |
For its third year, Lipscomb University’s College of Entertainment & the Arts, Department of Cinematic Arts, Department of Communication and Journalism in association with HumanDocs held its 5 Minute Film Festival, the university’s premier film event, on Friday, April 8, in Shamblin Theatre.
Designed to foster creativity and collaboration across a variety of disciplines, the festival encourages students to submit short films in three categories: Narrative (Fiction), Documentary and Music Video.
This year, 31 5-minute videos were submitted and featured collaborations from filmmaking students, acting majors, musicians, graphic designers and many non-arts majors from all over campus.
Steve Taylor, Lipscomb’s filmmaker-in-residence, said there was both record attendance and a record number of submissions at this years’ festival, however, this year’s event kicked off honoring a very influential individual in the Nashville community.
“A few hours before the festival, I got word that Jim Ridley had passed away,” said Taylor. “Jim was editor of the Nashville Scene and one of the country’s finest film critics, as well as being a longtime friend and a big supporter of Nashville-based filmmakers. So we began our festival by dedicating it to Jim Ridley.”
A panel of ten Nashville-based film industry professionals reviewed the submissions and picked the top three films in each category to screen as a part of the evening’s Gala Awards presentation.
“Every film receiving at least one vote was screened as a part of the presentation, so there were 26 films screened on Friday night,” said Taylor.
The Grand Prize winner of the event was “Picture Proof,” a charming tale of a boy who sneaks downstairs on Christmas Eve to try and take a photo of Santa. The film was written and directed by Andrew Nelson, a freshman in Lipscomb’s new Cinematic Arts undergrad program. Other students in the undergrad program, including cinematographer and editor, Andrew Chandler, also assisted Nelson.
As the Grand Prize recipient, Nelson received a $1,000 prize as well as an opportunity to screen his film in the prestigious Nashville Film Festival event, one of only 17 festivals in the world that are automatic qualifiers for Academy Award consideration, April 14-23.
First, second and third place winners also received cash prizes for $500, $100, and $50.
Other winners include:
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT:
- First place – PARALYZED directed by Kariss Forte.
- Second place - THE OTHER SIDE OF SOUND directed by Erin Turner and
CHAPPED directed by James Ed West and Megan Reimer. - Third place - NASHVILLE SOCIAL MEDIA PROJECT directed by Dominique Loftus.
BEST NARRATIVE SHORT:
- First place - PICTURE PROOF directed by Andrew Nelson.
- Second place - INVASION directed by Jesse Santoyo.
- Third place - CLONE COMMOTION directed by Take 3
BEST MUSIC VIDEO:
- First place – QUICKSAND directed by Spencer Glover
- Second place - MRS. SAVANNAH directed by Karen Espenant
- Third place - BAD BLOOD directed by Matt Gibson
Best Actor in a Narrative Short - Jonathan Blue in Picture Proof
Best Actress in a Narrative Short – Reinalisa Santoyo in Invasion
Best Cinematography in a 5-Minute Film - Andrew Chandler for Picture Proof
Best Sound Design in a 5-Minute Film – Andrew Chandler & Andrew Baird for Picture Proof
Best Original Music (composed by a Lipscomb student)- Jesse Santoyo for Shadow Creek Drive
Best Poster (designed by a Lipscomb student)- Sarah Smith – The Chopping Block
Another aspect of the evening was the audience awards. These awards were chosen by audience members who attended the 5 Minute Film Festival, and winners received a $100 gift card to Regal Cinemas.
For more information visit: www.lipscomb.edu/film.