Tuesday, March 22, 2011

The Visions Film Festival and Conference at the University of North Carolina Wilmington has selected its official line-up for its 2011 inaugural year. Proud to be the first-ever international film festival and conference designed and programmed by undergraduate students, VISIONS will bring student filmmakers and scholars from the United States, Europe and Australia to the UNCW campus. Hosted by the Department of Film Studies, the daylong celebration of undergraduate films and scholarly presentations will take place Friday, April 1 in Lumina Theater.

Filmmaker Isaiah "Izzy" Powers, co-director of the Student Academy Award-winning animation "Dried Up," will kick off the inaugural festival and conference with a keynote address at 9 a.m., followed by conference presentations and film screenings. A screening of "Dried Up" will precede his address. A recent graduate from the Kansas City Art Institute, Powers will share his personal experiences as an undergraduate filmmaker, how he found his current path and what it takes to succeed in the film industry.

VISIONS is the first ever international film festival and conference showcasing exclusively undergraduate filmmakers and scholars together in one forum. The film scholars' conference will follow Powers' address with two sessions, one at 10 a.m. and one at 1:30 p.m.

2011 Film Selections

Adventures of a Distant Mind directed by M. Johnston (University of North Carolina Wilmington)
In this animated journey through the interior life of a poetic young girl, dreams mix with stream of consciousness musings as the girl constructs her reality.

Akakombo directed by Rob Migrin (University of Michigan)
This narrative/documentary hybrid investigates America's future through the eyes of an East African prophet.

Bedford Park Boulevard directed by Felix Thompson (New York University)
A fifteen-year-old Latino boy at a high school in the Bronx makes a mistake that ruins the rest of his life.

Carried Away directed by Corinne Colgan and Eric Keto (Ithaca College)
Some people say he's crazy. Others call him a genius. Follow backyard inventor and world record-holding hot air balloon pilot Brian Boland on his next great adventure.

I F$#! with my Voice: It's a Cartoon directed by Evan Rothman (University of North Carolina Wilmington)
A documentary about two young individuals, a particularly perverse porn trade, vacuums and a touch of bluegrass.

In America directed by Royce Marcus (University of North Carolina Wilmington)
This self-portrait film examines the artist's relationship within both the natural world and the artificial.

Infallible directed by Jaclyn Gramigna (New York University)
Thirteen-year-old Leila Sharp lives at home with her uncle, the local dentist. He runs a tight ship and Leila has no problem being his perfect niece until she is tempted by the attractive ice cream man and the special ice cream he creates to gain her affections.

Kotzebue directed by Joshua Yates (University of North Carolina Charlotte)
This narrative video art piece is concerned with the tragic fate of a young girl.

Latrinalia directed by Joselyn McDonald (University of North Carolina Wilmington)
An experimental documentary tracing the phenomenon of bathroom graffiti from the dawn of time to the present.

Seasons of Love directed by Grettel Batoon (New York University)
After falling in love at the dawn of spring, two leaves must find a way to reunite after Mother Nature's inevitable forces tear them apart.

St. Christophorus: Roadkill directed by Gregor Erier (Filmakademic Baden-WurHemberg)
The life of Chris, a young lawyer, takes an unexpected turn when he witnesses a tragic accident while driving toward Hamburg. With the addition of a crime, two sadistic policemen and a bestial ranger, the angst-ridden Chris realizes that this horrifying night won't be over soon.

Still Here directed by Alex Camilleri (Vassar College)
A short documentary about Randy Baron, a long-term HIV survivor who lost his friends and loved ones to the disease that he is still living with.

Synapse directed by Chris Edwards (University of North Carolina Wilmington)
This experimental "found footage" film uses only clips from informational/informative videos from the '60s and '70s.

Twice As Bright directed by Leo Hageman (University of North Carolina Wilmington)
A young widower decodes messages from his wife. Her lesson? How to begin again.

Written directed by Bryn Silverman (University of Southern California)
Fray Collins wakes up in a dark world and struggles to express himself in words. In this splice-of-life short experimental film, he finds his creative inspiration in a woman, Charlotte. Suddenly, Fray is able to get his frustrations off his back.

Zlata Rybka (The Goldfish) directed by Jacob Mendel (Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts)
Set in Prague at an indeterminate time, the lives of a man, a cat and a goldfish intersect in unexpected ways.

2011 Presentation Selections

"Carole Lombard as a Transcendental Comic" by Olympia Kiriakou (Florida Atlantic University)
This presentation examines Carole Lombard's influence on screwball comedy and the ways in which her characters challenged conventional notions of screwball femininity.

"Character Empathy and Moral Judgment in Pre-1908 Cinema" by Matthew Hepburn (Warwick University)
This presentation argues that, contrary to Tom Gunning's theory, films belonging to the 'cinema of attractions' did indeed have the capacity to elicit empathy and evaluate the morality of their characters' actions.

"The Digital Void: Using CGI and Cinematography to its Full Potential in Enter the Void" by Royce Marcus (University of North Carolina Wilmington)
This presentation analyzes how Gasper Noe's film Enter the Void (2009) utilizes computer-generated imagery in order to enhance the overall film unlike other contemporaries who may be misusing CGI effects.

"Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge: The Function of Song and Dance Sequences in Bollywood Cinema" by Christina Simon (University of North Carolina Wilmington)
This presentation takes a closer look at the origins, sources, and functions of the musical numbers used in Bollywood films, as well as the influence of censorship and culture on Bollywood's creative approaches.

"Echoes of Alienation: Nostalgia in Transnational Cinema" by Melika Hadziomerovic (University of Florida)
This presentation is a contemporary look at Transnational Cinema, which argues that a yearning for cultural identity is the root cause of urban alienation.

"Hollywood Responds to Sexual Modernity: The Comedy Films of Ernst Lubitsch and Buster Keaton" by Jesse Maiman (Yale University)
This presentation uses three films, The Marriage Circle by Ernst Lubitsch and The Navigator, as well as Sherlock, Jr. both by Buster Keaton, to compare and contrast how the two directors used sexual modernity as a source of comedy.

"Hotel Chevalier and the Lancelot Proper" by Alexandra Flores (University of Florida)
This presentation takes a look at Wes Anderson's short film Hotel Chevalier and its curious similarities with the medieval French Arthurian romance the Prose Lancelot.

"Lose Yourself in Oz: Memory and Nation in Baz Luhrmann's Australia and the 'Come Walkabout' Tourism Campaign" by Carolyn Lake (Flinders University, Australia)
Explores the creation and exhibition of Luhrmann's Australian narrative(s) and questions the function of these stories on Australian public memory at home and abroad.

"Michael Snow and SSHTOORTY: The Collision of Two Spheres of Avant-Garde Cinema" by Jacob Mertens (University of North Carolina Wilmington)
This presentation analyzes Michael Snow's SSHTOORTY and how its aesthetic principles pay homage to structuralism while still expressing the visions of post-modernism.

Attending VISIONS

All events will be held April 1 at Lumina Theater on the UNCW campus. The VISIONS conference and festival are free and open to the public. For more details regarding the day's schedule please visit our website, http://uncw.edu/filmstudies/VISIONSFILMFESTIVAL.html

VISIONS will bring to Wilmington scholarly works and well-crafted films from the next generation of academy and industry leaders from across the U.S. plus Europe and Australia, to foster an inclusive undergraduate community and provide an enriching film experience.

Media contacts:
Dana Fischetti, media relations manager, UNCW, 910.508.3127 or fischettid@uncw.edu
or
Andy Myers, student festival and conference contact, 910.599.7447 or atm2865@uncw.edu