ASU film students take top prizes in national film festival
ASU film students Ryan Steiner and Chris Meyers took the top two places in the Fan Favorite category in the national SeeFlik online short film competition.
Steiner’s entry, "Cadet," won first place and Meyers’ "Good Injuns" placed second in the short film festival that attracted more than 375 films from some of the nation's top film schools.
It was a significant showing for the ASU School of Theatre and Film’s film production program and its 15 into 50 Film Festival Initiative, according to F. Miguel Valenti, founder and director of the ASU Film and Media Production programs and Lincoln Professor of Ethics and the Arts.
The initiative aspires to place at least 15 student films in 50 national level competitions each year, Valenti says, in order to give broader exposure to the work being made in the Herberger Institute film production program.
“This is a big deal,’’ says Adam Collis, ASU visiting professor of film directing and originator of the initiative, who brings his Hollywood industry connections to the ASU film production program with not only the 15 into 50 Film Festival Initiative but also with the popular Hollywood Invades Tempe screening and industry insiders Skype sessions and the weekend industry guest seminars. “Our students are competing with filmmakers from the best schools in the country,” says Collis. “This is a great testament to the ASU film media production program,’’ he says.
"Cadet" and "Good Injuns" also made it into the judges’ category along with ASU film student Nicholas Mihm’s, "The Fixer."
Kimberly Aiello and Hayley Kosan also entered films that earned rave reviews and landed among the competition’s top films for fans and judges.
"Cadet" and "Good Injuns" were both featured in the 2011 annual ASU student film festival. This year’s film festival will be held April 26-27 at Harkins Valley Art Theatre on Mill Avenue in Tempe. The public is invited. Visit http://theatrefilm.asu.edu/events/ for tickets and more information.