Excitement was in the air asstudents stood around waiting for the door to open. When it did, the students were greeted with an actual red carpet and photographer. Because tonight they were not just students, they were directors and actors. On Oct. 16, the CMF (Campus Movie Fest)finale featured 16 student films.
The festival hosted films made by Sonoma State University students. Of the 39 films submitted only 16 were chosen to be shown. The films touched on subjects like death, family, love, obsession, depression and uncertainty. The genres ranged from comedy to drama to horror.
Four films won the Jury award. Winners of the Jury award will have their films shown at the State CMF Finale with the possibility of having it shownat the Cannes Film Festival.
One of the big winners of the night was “nomaNMBS”, a documentary about various art students at Sonoma State and what art means to them. Another, “Slut Man Friend”, told a madcap tale of two quirky roommates who have to deal with one-night stands and ex-girlfriends. “The Vision” and “Bobby” also won Jury awards.
“Slut Man Friends” also took home best actor for Sean Tadloch as one of the roommates. When accepting the award, Tadloch thanked CMF “for giving an award for being me.” Victoria Saitz won best actress for her role as someone taking an experimental drug in “Try This Part 1 and 2.”
CMF is a large student film festival that moves from campus to campus. Each student gets a camera, microphone and MacBook Pro in order to make their movie in just one week.
The CMF has been at Sonoma State for ten years is co-sponsored by the Associated Students Productions.
The night was hosted by ASP president and fifth year Communications major Paolo Ochoa. “CMF has been an ongoing Sonoma State tradition for 10 years. It’s a chance for students to express themselves,” said Ochoa.
In addition to hosting the movies, Ochoa held a twitter contest. There was also a raffle and shirts were thrown into the audience.
“The Vision” was a fun sketchabout making a movie. An over-worked assistant, two leads who can’t stand each other and an overbearing egotistical director make for one wild shot. Director and senior communications major Max Heller said, “We [the crew] worked really passionately. I wanted to incorporate some comedy.”
“Bobby”, winner of best director, was shot entirely from the point of view of a younger brother who discovers that his brother is gay and watches as his family is torn apart by homophobia and AIDS.
It was directed by senior communications major Anna Luna. Luna said she was really surprised she had won. She described the story as something that really needed to be told. “We did it with meaning,” said Luna. Luna is going to film school next year.
“Slut Man Friends” was a fastly paced comedy. The film highlights include strong performances, snappy dialogue and quick editing.
Other notable movies were “Dig” directed by Jason Nathan M. Weiss and Alex Bretow, which follows a mysterious grave digger.
“We’re Going Places” directed by Tiffany McGaughy, was a romantic comedy about a proposal gone awry. “Try This Part 1 and 2” directed by Allan Chornak and Victoria Saitz, was a story about a girl who takes a strange drug that goes to funny to dark. All 39 films can be found at CMF’s website campusmoviefest.com.
