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Festival provides future filmmakers venue

Joe Gieringer, Senior Staff Writer

Film festivals have become a breeding ground for innovative ideas and a starting point for many bright careers. Sundance, Cannes, Toronto and many more are now established stops on the film circuit, where amateur and professional filmmakers alike scout for companies to distribute their films. And now, at least for a year, Miami University can also boast a festival celebrating silver screen productions.

A few months ago, The Miami Student Film Festival was nothing more than an idea in the head of junior Leah Coleman. After getting in touch with organizations such as the Miami Association of Filmmakers and Independent Artists (M.A.F.I.A.), she laid the groundwork for what would be Miami's first student film festival, which took place Saturday.

"It started out as a follow-up project for a scholarship I received," Coleman said. "I was required to make a project once I received the scholarship - something that would somehow benefit the community. So I decided to do a festival."

With not much time to spread the word, Coleman worked with classmate senior Zamyr Rivera, the treasurer of M.A.F.I.A., on getting the word out and acquiring submissions from student filmmakers. The theme of the festival was "Art and Empathy," and despite limited campus-wide visibility, 11 submissions were received.

"I got all the information from her, and then I basically just sent it out on Facebook and went around to a bunch of film classes," Rivera said of his part in getting the word out about the festival. "It was just a way to get students to have their film seen by other people who wouldn't have a chance otherwise."

Rivera and Coleman submitted one entry each, both of which were shown Saturday. Rivera's film was titled Running and was directed by the Oxford native himself in a neo-noir type fashion. Coleman's submission also played this past weekend, and deals with a Miami student breaking from her usual routine, with surprising results.

"It was an animation, and was basically about a girl who does the same things each and every day," Coleman said. "She gets tired of living this life and wants to get out of the cycle. It's black and white, but coming near the end, color starts to come in as ... she starts a new life."

With a turnout of close to 20 attendees, the Miami Student Film Festival provided a venue for student filmmakers to have their productions screened in front of a live audience. Due to time constraints, Coleman is unsure if it's something she would want to do again next year, though she is open to the idea.

"Maybe, if I have time," Coleman said. "I'm starting track back up next year [for Miami]. If I had time from class and track, I'd definitely look into doing it again."

Though the future is uncertain, the Miami Student Film Festival gave 11 different groups of students a place to share and bring their artistic visions to life. With proper planning and contributions, a yearly festival could become a reality for aspiring actors, directors and cinematographers on Miami's campus.


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