It’s like something out of the movies. A lifetime career in filmmaking can take off with just one week, a video camera and the world’s largest student film festival.
Campus MovieFest will make its debut at Northwestern Nov. 3. Students have one week to create their own five minute movie with a laptop, video camera and cell phone all provided by CMF.
Four students at Emory University created CMF 10 years ago when they held a movie-making competition in their dorm. The students worked with Apple, Panasonic and AT&T to provide students at other schools in Atlanta with the equipment they needed to make movies and host their own film festivals. CMF soon branched out to schools all across the country.
Now more than 350,000 students at 60 universities in the United States and Mexico have participated in CMF since it began. Students have won more than $2 million in prizes and had their movies shown online at CMF events, at Paramount Studios and on flights for Virgin America.
“Northwestern has always been a school that we’ve wanted to try to come to, and this is just the first year that we’ve had the resources available to us to reach out to you guys,” Ann Daykin, the promotions manager for CMF, said. “We’re really excited to be here.”
Sponsored by NU Channel 1 and the Center for Student Involvement, CMF officially launches on Nov. 3 when students pick up their equipment at Norris and begin making their films. They have one week to create their movies with 24/7 technical support from CMF. On Nov. 9, students will return their equipment and finished films, which will be shown on CMF’s website as well as on their YouTube channel.
“I wish I had known about it as a film student” Aldi Kaza, a CSI staff member and recent School of Communication graduate, said. “It’s a great hands-on experience, I think, to use that equipment, to use the editing software, and just to build that creative community at Northwestern that may not already exist campus-wide.”
A panel of Northwestern faculty, staff and students will review the films and select the top 16 movies to show at the grand finale event on Nov. 16. The film that receives the most views on YouTube will also be shown as a “bonus” 17th movie. Prizes for Best Picture, Best Drama and Best Comedy include an iPod Touch, Final Cut Studio and an invitation to CMF’s International Grand Finale and membership to the Distinguished Filmmakers Network, which helps connect students with other CMF winners and gain more industry experience.
Films do not have to fit into a certain category. In the past, Daykin said she has seen students create films from all different genres. For that, there is an AT&T Wild Card Award where the winner receives an invitation to the CMF International Grand Finale and Distinguished Filmmakers Network membership.
“We like to be surprised,” Daykin said. “It’s nice to see students come up with something we’ve never seen before, too.”
The top four winners from Northwestern will move on to the CMF International Grand Finale along with the top four films from other participating schools. A panel of Hollywood movie industry insiders, including directors and producers, will judge these films for Best Picture, Best Comedy and Best Drama. Team leaders receive iPads and team members receive iPod touches for their winning films.
Students can also submit their films into several special categories. The Elfenworks Social Justice category awards $20,000 in cash grants for films that focus on domestic poverty and social justice issues. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences For the Love of Movies category sends winners to the Oscars® Red Carpet Experience for movies that express students’ love of cinema. Students can also win a trip to a Hollywood film set with Arnold Schwarzenegger from the Arnold Sports Film Festival if their film focuses on an individual’s athletic achievements in sports. The AT&T Rethink Possible Award gives student filmmakers $5,000 and the opportunity to pitch their feature film to people in the Hollywood movie industry. Winners can also earn trips to world-renowned film festivals like the Cannes International Film Festival and Sundance Film Festival.
McCormick junior and NU Channel 1 show liaison Michael Chua said he hopes CMF’s first year at Northwestern will not be its last. Ultimately, NU Channel 1’s goal is to have the event return to campus every year.
“We want to get something started that A: Campus MovieFest would want to return to, and B: students, after trying it and after hearing about it, will be interested to do next year,” Chua said. “We’ve got the ingredients going; we just hope we deliver in a way that will start that campus tradition.”
CMF is already making plans to return to Northwestern, according to Daykin. If students show a lot of interest in the event and campus organizations are willing to work with CMF again, Daykin says students can look forward to seeing CMF back at Northwestern next year and every year after that.
“If Northwestern will have us back, we’ll be back,” Daykin said.
This year’s event could be the start of a long partnership between Northwestern students and CMF. Now that’s a Hollywood ending.