For the fourth year in a row, Campus MovieFest has given college students the opportunity to create and showcase their own talents. Students are given one week, a computer, a camcorder and any technical support they need to create their very own five-minute (or less) movie.
The best part is that it’s absolutely free for everyone involved. The filmmakers spend nothing and earn as much recognition as they deserve while the viewing audience gets a free and entertaining night of independent filmmaking.
The top 16 films from Tech were shown Friday night, Feb.19, and featured films from a wide variety of genres and talents. There were short comedies, romantic stories, zombie tales and even movies that attempted to mess with your head. In general, the films were incredible and showed us that a huge talent for filmmaking and storytelling exists at Tech.
One of my favorites was Emotional High School. Although it didn’t win any awards, Emotional High School was a hilarious documentary-style parody of the dramas of high school. There were eating disorders, dramatic breakups, weird teachers and strange drug scandals. It had a lot of great acting and random funny moments mostly due to the teacher in the movie (played by a Tech student).
Another personal favorite was Brain Dead (which won Best Comedy), a story about two video gamers who decide to get rid of their annoying friend because they think he is on the verge of turning into a crazed zombie. It was an obvious play on traditional zombie films, but it was hilarious because it highlighted how constant video gaming and zero social interaction just might eventually dull your brain to the point of idiocy.
Other films such as were more dramatic. This was a film about a blind woman who takes the only caring person in her life, her boyfriend, for granted and learns the consequences of her own selfishness by the end of the film. It was a great story with good acting and a surprising twist in the end.
Aside from the funny but awkward hosts, the Campus MovieFest itself was well organized. It is entertaining and a must-see the next time it comes to Tech. If you attended this time, then not only did you get to see great movies for free, but you also had the opportunity to win great door prizes such as iPods and filmmaking software.
If you didn’t go and still want to see the movies you can go to www.campusmoviefest.com and watch all of the films from around the country. If you would like to just watch the films from Tech please visit www.campusmoviefest.com/events/georgiatech.php.
The movies that won awards on Friday will automatically move on in the Southern Regional Campus MovieFest competition. However, if you vote for any of the other
films, they can still move on in the competition.
All you have to do to vote for a film is visit the site above, watch the Tech films and send the appropriate text listed on the site for the movie you liked. It would be great to see one of Tech’s filmmakers win a competition of this magnitude, so please visit the site to show your support or to simply enjoy the great variety of movies created by young filmmakers.