Spring Break
Hollywood, young directors and the little films between
by Jonathan Fischer
Deputy Editor
Arts | 3/6/07
Posted online at 12:10 AM EST on 3/6/07
In an evening that celebrated the legacy of Anglo-American cinema as much as works of student filmmakers, the comedic short Hit or Miss took top honors at the sixth SunDeis Film Festival awards ceremony Sunday night in Sherman Function Hall.
In addition to the best picture prize, the humorous short film about low-level office workers who aspire to become hit men also won in the best screenwriting category, with its creators David LaCarubba and Michael Ouelette accepting both prizes. Ex Machina walked away with three awards-for best cinematagrophy, documentary and music-and Seth Berstein '05 won the "Best of Brandeis" category for The One I Love, a short film that was shot on and around campus last academic year.
But the festivities, unfortunately fraught by technical difficulties, kept one foot firmly grounded in cinema's past. Following brief introductions by Prof. Anita Hill (Heller) and Scott Feinberg '08, one of SunDeis' organizers, the evening truly began with a video retrospective of film's century-long history.
Lifetime-achievement awards were also presented to the actors Patricia Neal-best known for her roles in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) and A Face in the Crowd (1957), among other films-and Roy Scheider, who starred in All That Jazz (1979) and Jaws (1975), alongside montages of the two's most famous performances.
Neal, frail but speaking with the same staggering grace evident in her best roles, advised student filmmakers to "follow your passions as I did."
And Scheider said that actors, as well as other members of the movie industry, serve as essential storytellers in a strange world.
"If we don't talk to each other and tell each other our stories, I think we would go mad," he said.
Jeremy Larner '58, whose original script for The Candidate (1972) earned him an Academy Award, presented the award for best screenplay, recalling that as a freshman, he and many other students debated whether the film Birth of a Nation (1915), controversial for its glorification of white supremicism, ought to be screened at Brandeis. He said they eventually voted that it shouldn't, despite the objections of Larner and others on grounds of the film's value as a historical document.
In addition to the best picture prize, the humorous short film about low-level office workers who aspire to become hit men also won in the best screenwriting category, with its creators David LaCarubba and Michael Ouelette accepting both prizes. Ex Machina walked away with three awards-for best cinematagrophy, documentary and music-and Seth Berstein '05 won the "Best of Brandeis" category for The One I Love, a short film that was shot on and around campus last academic year.
But the festivities, unfortunately fraught by technical difficulties, kept one foot firmly grounded in cinema's past. Following brief introductions by Prof. Anita Hill (Heller) and Scott Feinberg '08, one of SunDeis' organizers, the evening truly began with a video retrospective of film's century-long history.
Lifetime-achievement awards were also presented to the actors Patricia Neal-best known for her roles in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) and A Face in the Crowd (1957), among other films-and Roy Scheider, who starred in All That Jazz (1979) and Jaws (1975), alongside montages of the two's most famous performances.
Neal, frail but speaking with the same staggering grace evident in her best roles, advised student filmmakers to "follow your passions as I did."
And Scheider said that actors, as well as other members of the movie industry, serve as essential storytellers in a strange world.
"If we don't talk to each other and tell each other our stories, I think we would go mad," he said.
Jeremy Larner '58, whose original script for The Candidate (1972) earned him an Academy Award, presented the award for best screenplay, recalling that as a freshman, he and many other students debated whether the film Birth of a Nation (1915), controversial for its glorification of white supremicism, ought to be screened at Brandeis. He said they eventually voted that it shouldn't, despite the objections of Larner and others on grounds of the film's value as a historical document.
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