Emerson wins best picture at Boston Campus MovieFest Finale
Cherylynn Tsushima
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Emerson students, Ryan Cook, Michael McGarry, Jeremy Albucher, and Derek Desmond won the Best Picture prize at the Campus MovieFest Boston Grand Finale Friday at the Colonial. Their movie, "Looking Up," was about a man who finds his life has a purpose after he almost falls off a cliff and is visited by a guardian angel-like girl.
The CMF award for Best Drama went to the movie "Patron Addicted" by a team of Tufts University students. "Patron Addicted" was about a man that has a fear of malls and must face that fear. The CMF award for Best Comedy went to the movie "Lost and Found" by a team of MIT students. "Lost and Found" was about how a man, who happens to be a sock puppet, leaves his love for a new woman, who also happens to be a sock puppet.
Golden Tripod Awards were also given for Best Special Effects, Funniest Moment, Best Costume and Make-Up, Most Awkward Moment, and Best Performance, as well as a live audience's choice pick.
Richard Arlook, an Emerson alumnus, gave the Golden Tripod Premium Edition, to another Emerson Alumnus, Brad Epstein. The award was given to Epstein because he is a leader in the film industry that exemplifies the goals of Campus MovieFest.
"There is no right or wrong in storytelling," Epstein said. He told young filmmakers to "stick to your dreams."
Other competing schools were Boston College, Boston University, Bridgewater State College, MIT, Northeastern University, and Tufts University.
Each participating team is given an Apple laptop and a digital camcorder for a week so that they can create their own short film. The movies that are turned in are then judged by a panel of students and staff at the individual school. The winning movies at each school then move on to a regional competition against other schools in the area.
 Media Credit: Cherylynn Tsushima The Campus MovieFest Boston Grand Finale was held at the Colonial Theatre |
Blake Carron, a freshman at Boston College made a movie with a few of his friends and was surprised to find that his movie, "World Champion", had won the award for best picture at Boston College.
"We decided to submit our movie at the last second," Carron said. Carron said he had hoped for the award for best comedy but was even more excited to find out that his movie had won best picture out of the 53 Boston College submissions.
Of the submissions at Boston University, "In with the Cabbie," won Best Picture. "Are We Straight?" won Best Picture at Emerson College. At MIT, the Best Picture Award went to the movie, "Lost and Found." "Poke" won Best Picture at Northeastern University. The movie, "Patron Addicted," won Best Picture at Tufts.
"Looking Up", "Patron Addicted", "Lost and Found", and one wild card movie will move onto the national grand finale, which will be held at the Hudson Theatre in New York City on Saturday, May 3. Those films will compete with other winning films from different regions, including, Alabama, Atlanta, the Bay Area in California, Florida, Los Angeles, New York, and Scotland.
Campus MovieFest is the world's largest student film festival. It started in 2001 at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., and now more than 150 thousand students participate in the competition. According to its website, CMF's goal is "to showcase the next generation of moviemakers and empower people everywhere to share their stories with the world - a vision that has provided students the chance to learn skills that will be beneficial throughout their lives."
Mark Waters, the director of "Mean Girls", spoke at the beginning of the show, offering advice and inspiration to the participants and audience. "The only limit is your own creativity," Waters said.