Film still from "Voyager" by Jared Potter.
The annual Bachelor of Fine Arts student film event is again upon us come May 14. The program, “I Dream In Widescreen,” takes place at the Fox Tucson Theatre, 17 W. Congress St., for the third time in the past four years.
Featuring 12 student thesis films, the evening has become a tradition where student filmmakers, their cast, crew and families, gather along with the general public at the free screening to see the fruits of many long months of labor projected on the big screen.
This year’s crop of films includes drama, noir and even sci-fi, and the films are of a “particularly high caliber,” said Assistant Professor Lisanne Skyler. “The students demonstrated a light touch with their work and a maturity in their storytelling, and they love to engage with an audience,” said Skyler.
New this year is an award, sponsored by FotoKem, the Los Angeles based film laboratory. The prize, to be awarded to one of the filmmakers, is $5,000 worth of lab services. This marks the first time, since their 1963 start, that the company has been involved with a film department outside of Los Angeles.
It is also the first time that the event has been able to offer a prize, something that Skyler said students and faculty alike are excited about. “FotoKem supports independent film in a big way, and we’re thrilled that they are willing to support our students.”
The jurors selecting FotoKem’s prize-winner include: Robert Abele, a film and television journalist, Daniela Bajar, a film programmer based in New York and Jeff Yanc, the program director at Tucson’s Loft Theatre.
The culmination of a year-long project, the film becomes a “calling card” for filmmakers, a live-action resume of sorts.
Filmmaker Everett Forbes, director of the dark period comedy, Hi-Fi Alibi, is “excited for my family, friends and fellow filmmakers to see our hard work up on the big screen.”
Forbes, a California native who aspires to become a film editor, is headed to New York following graduation and will take his film along as proof of what he is capable of. Other filmmakers may next submit their works to festivals, but even if this is the only screening of their work in a theatre, the Fox Theatre is, according to Forbes, the “perfect place.”
Doors open at 6pm for the 7pm screening, which is often full by the time the program starts, so get there early!
