Film program hosts Five-Minute Film Festival on Friday

Stephanie Schiraldi | 

Lipscomb University will host the second annual Five-Minute Film Festival, featuring categories in narrative (fiction) and documentary, on Friday, April 17.

Lipscomb’s film and creative media program will show 19 film submissions from students in a variety of majors. The films will be shown at 7 p.m. in Shamblin Theatre.

“The overall quality of the films submitted was substantially higher than last year, including some fine documentaries and a narrative comedy with some sophisticated visual effects,” said Steve Taylor, Lipscomb’s filmmaker-in-residence and coordinator of the festival. Taylor’s latest film project is “Blue Like Jazz.”

Taylor said that interest in filmmaking is at an all-time high and the cost to make films is at an all-time low. Some of last year’s winners were even shot on iPhones, he said.

“We thought a film festival would be a good way to get the rest of the campus collaborating on making short films,” said Taylor. “Mike Fernandez, the dean of our new College of Entertainment & the Arts, is a big believer in getting students from all disciplines involved in culture making.”

A panel of film industry professionals will judge the films and the grand prize winner will be shown at the Nashville Film Festival later this week, qualifying it for Oscar consideration.

Awards will be given for first and second prize winners in each category along with an audience award for the film voted the favorite by audience members. There will also be awards given for best actor, best actress, best art direction, best sound design and best poster design.

Judges for the Five-Minute Film Festival will include:

  • Coke Sams, producer and writer best known for “Ernest Scared Stupid” and a producer for “Blue Like Jazz;”
  • Howie Klausner, writer of “Space Cowboys” and director of “The Secret Handshake;”
  • Ben Pearson, Nashville filmmaker who co-wrote and directed “The Second Chance” and “Blue Like Jazz;”
  • Molly Secours, Nashville filmmaker known for her work in “Face the Truth: Racial Profiling Across America” and “Babyfever;”
  • Wayne Campbell, senior vice president and creative director at Film House;
  • Gisela Moore, project manager for the Film, Entertainment & Music Commission in the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development;
  • Tim Brown, producer of “The Moors;” and
  • Dona Spangler, producer.