By Dylan Hart
Campus Movie Fest has returned to USF St. Petersburg, giving budding filmmakers an opportunity to showcase their skills and share their cinematic vision with the world.
CMF is a college-based program that provides students with the training and equipment to make their own 5-minute film within a week. The program is held at over 30 campuses, including colleges in Mexico and the U.K.
The program will officially launch Wednesday, Feb. 21 and will run through Tuesday, Feb. 27.
The top 16 films chosen by judges will be screened March 5 for an audience of USF St. Petersburg students.
The final four films will win the Jury Award, which gives them the chance to participate in the national CMF competition at the TERMINUS Conference + Festival in Atlanta where students will compete for $10,000 in addition to several other prizes.
Some films may be eligible for awards in more specific categories — the Elfenworks Social Justice category highlights films with a focus on social issues, while the Tribeca Campus Docs category awards documentaries with a showing at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.
The Silver Tripod Award can be won by specific crew roles, with awards available in categories such as directing, editing, cinematography, sound, performance, story, effects and production design. Participants who win the Silver Tripod on their campus are also eligible for the nationally recognized Golden Tripod.
“Some of our films are being shown on Amazon Prime, some go to the Cannes Film Festival, some go to the Tribeca Film Festival and some are even screened as in-flight entertainment on Virgin Airlines,” said Brie Golden, co-op for Campus Movie Fest.
Quan Jones, a junior journalism student at USF St. Petersburg, participated in last year’s Campus Movie Fest and says he is excited to jump back in with another 5-minute film this year.
“CMF was really fun last year,” said Jones. “I learned more about telling a story rather than just learning how to use the camera.
The deadline for submissions in Feb. 21. Students can sign up for CMF online at https://campusmoviefest.com/participate
Header photo courtesy of Campus Movie Fest organization
