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Last Updated: Feb 6, 2017 - 2:32:04 PM |
Filmmakers of C.O.B. who will have their work featured in the upcoming 3rd Annual Short Film Festival to be held on April 17th starting at 12 noon. Left to right: Vanessa McIntosh, Kya McPhee, Brandyt Albury, Brittney Ambrister, Michelle Green,
Farrah Styles, Betty Sands, Brethel Lightfoot.
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Nassau, Bahamas -
College of The Bahamas will be holding their 3rd annual Short Film Festival on Wednesday, April 17th at 12 pm. The festival is open to the public.
The event showcases films from students who receive 1-year
training in the field of digital video in the Media Journalism program. Last year several of the films went on to be see in other film festivals in Grand Bahama and in Nassau.
"The Ministry of Tourism along with its agency, Bahamas Film & Television Commission is once again extremely please to assist the initiatives of the College of The Bahamas and its School of Film and Journalism under the direction of Assistant Professor Hugo Zarate and Mr. Haldane Chase, the chair of the department with its Third Annual One Day Film Festival, said Craig Woods, Bahamas Film Commissioner. "The festival has generated positive results with several of the student filmmakers obtaining recognition for their short and documentary films at FLIFF on Location: Grand Bahama, an extension of the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival (FLIFF), and at Bahamas International Film Festival, (BIFF) in 2012. The Film Commission see a lot of positive vibes coming through this exchange, and view this group as the next generation of Bahamian Filmmakers about to take flight on the world cinematic stage. Congratulations and much success to all."
"It’s been a remarkably fulfilling journey for the festival’s primary organizer," Mr. Hugo Zarate, Journalism and Communication lecturer at COB.
“The film festival has been growing every year. This project started just as an avenue for students to show what they do in class, but after 3 years the films that they produced have been winning awards in local and international festivals which keep us motivated and excited,” he said.
Most recently, COB student Brittney Armbrister won first place in the college category at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival (FLIFF) for the film Who Are We? This film also placed 3rd at the 2nd Annual COB Short Film Festival last year, showing the excellence that is being cultivated among emerging filmmakers. Armbrister has also been featured by the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism.
This year, more than 20 students are collaborating on their projects. Submissions are also being invited from recent COB alumni as well and Mr. Zarate hopes that soon, there will be international participants.
“In the coming years we want the festival to grow more and invite other universities in the region to send their productions and participate in the festival and hopefully take it to an international level, making this event one of the international events for COB every year. It would be something like a college festival for schools around the world,” he noted.
Mr. Zarate said the students are simply doing a great job in exposing the national issues that confront The Bahamas. In the past, short films have explored complex issues of abandonment, physical abuse and suicide. The recently added documentary category has had films on illegal immigration, Bahamian national identity and homelessness.
Currently, many more students of The College have an opportunity to nurture their passion in film making by taking a Minor in Film and Drama Studies. The minor allows baccalaureate degree students who are pursuing a full-time degree to excel in an art form about which they are passionate. Courses in the minor include History of Film and Race and Film: The African American Image, which require the student to ‘read’ the film, explore ideas and look at films in new ways.
With a bright future ahead, the COB Short Film Festival continues to celebrate community-building and the culture of student filmmaking.
"We hope the student's friends, families and the general public come out to support and enjoy the selection,
" said
Zarate.
The festival is being supported by TheBahamasWeekly.com as well as endorsed by the Bahamas Film & Television Commission.
© Copyright 2013 by thebahamasweekly.com
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