Wednesday, September 03, 2003

WILMINGTON, NC – UNCW professor and filmmaker Lou Buttino earned his sixth award from WorldFest Houston, one of the oldest and largest film and video competitions in North America. There were more than 4,500 category entries from 37 countries.

Buttino, who teaches in the UNCW Film Studies Department and the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies Program, won Best Documentary honors for The Lessons of September: One School Remembers. A co-production with WNET-TV in New York City, it is the story of a small high school in Brooklyn and how it came to terms with the World Trade Center bombing. WNET-TV will repeat broadcast of the program in September.

WNET-TV has nominated the documentary for an Emmy, the DuPont-Columbia Journalism Award and a George Foster Peabody Award. The program was selected for inclusion in the PBS national distribution network.

Buttino was named a program consultant by WNET-TV, which has the largest viewing audience in the PBS system. His previous honors from WorldFest Houston were in the Best Documentary and Best Screenplay categories.

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