Four students – one from each major region of the world – have been named first-place winners in the 2010 edition of the annual Kodak Film School Competition. The contest is designed to recognize the creativity and talent of student cinematographers in the collaborative process of visual storytelling.
This year’s winners are:
· Joshua Nitschke from California State University-Northridge for the United States/Canada region;
· Massimo Bettarelli from CUEC-UNAMin Mexico for the Latin American region;
· Mihai Marius Apopei from the National University of Theatre and Cinematography “I.L.Caragiale” in Romania for Europe-Africa-Middle East region;
· Yuki Ukibe from the Japan Academy of Moving Images for the Asia-Pacific region.
The winners will receive a trip, courtesy of Kodak, to the 2011 Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival in France, where they will have the opportunity to screen their filmsin the Kodak Short Film Showcase. The filmmakers also participate in networking sessions and other activities which are part of the festival.
For the second consecutive year, John Bailey, ASC (As Good as it Gets, Accidental Tourist) judged the entries. “We are grateful to John for contributing his artful eye and experience to nurturing the next generation of filmmakers,” says Johanna Gravelle, Worldwide Image Capture marketing director for Kodak’s Entertainment Imaging Division. “Our goal is to foster new talent, and all of the students who enter benefit from John’s insights and feedback. This competition and its prizes are just one of many ways that Kodak supports students and film schools around the world.”
The winners of this year’s Kodak Film School Competition tackled a diverse range of subject matter. Bettarelli’s “Los Trashumantes” tells the tale of three Mexican filmmakers obsessed with filming Pancho Villa during the Mexican Revolution. In Apopei’s “Close Encounters of the Third Reich,” a Romanian medic in search of his unit befriends a wounded German officer in the midst of war-torn Europe. Nitschke’s “Misdirection” follows a famous magician’s grandson as he discovers his grandfather’s greatest, yet dangerous, secret. In Ukibe’s “Wish You Were Here,” an active, young girl living in very quiet village befriends a recluse and develops a father-daughter-like relationship.
Second place winners were also named in each region. These recipients receive a $2,000 Kodak film product grant. They are: Sam Lebel-Wong from Ryerson University in Canada for “The Memory Merchant;” Marcelo Martins Santiago from the Universidade Estácio de Sá in Brazil for “Blue Exile;” Ehud Hermony from The Sam Spiegel Film & Television School in Jerusalem for “Guided Tour;” and Liu You Nian from the Beijing Film Academy in China for “Sunshine Fraud.”
The Kodak Film School Competition is open to students and recent graduates in Asia, Latin America, Canada and the U.S., as well as Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Participants compete at a national level first. Then those finalists move on to be judged for the top four spots in the competition. All entries must be produced on film by a student crew.
For more information on the Kodak Film School Competition, visit www.kodak.com/go/filmschoolcompetition. For more information on Kodak motion picture film products and services, visit www.kodak.com/go/motion.
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