Comm Arts Hosts 13th Annual Film Festival
Lee University Cinema recently hosted its 13th annual Film Festival, an event for students to screen and present their short films to an audience of students, faculty, and community guests. Seven films were selected for screening at the festival.
“It’s always a pleasure to see the high-quality storytelling that comes out of the cinema program at Lee,” said Matthew Fisher, associate professor of communication. “This year we enjoyed a polished batch of films with particularly strong sound design, color, and score.”
The event was run by Lee Cinema and the Office of Student Engagement, along with cinema student Alexis Larson, and hosted by students Hal Arwood, a senior theatre major, and Aaron Sills, a member of Lee’s improv team Shenanigans.
“Nine Months to November,” written and directed by Hazel Jones, with Jacob Opperman as director of photography, won the Faculty Choice Award. The Faculty Choice Award is given by Communication Arts faculty and staff as a recognition to the film that exhibits highest excellence in collaboration, creativity, and storytelling.
“Eyes Wide Open,” written and directed by Antwuan Dean and produced by Bethany Farnsworth and Ehrin Maycock, won the Audience Choice Award, which is given to the film that receives the most votes from the audience.
“Nothing leaves me in awe quite like watching my creative peers get to show off their hard work,” said Arwood.
Other films accepted and screened at the festival include “The Harbinger,” directed by Stephanie Larche and produced by Elijah Buck; “Stay With Me,” directed by Arwood and Opperman; “Cleveland Band,” directed by Micah Debelak; “High-Flying Byrds,” directed by Logan VanHook, Jayce Lewis, Joe Mercer, and Nate Ridgeway; and “Blood on the Strings,” directed by VanHook.
Students were invited to submit any film they had produced from April 2022 to April 2023. Each of the submitted films were screened by a panel of faculty judges, who decided which made it into the Film Festival.
For more information about Lee’s cinema program, visit leeucinema.com.
