Hsiu-Wen Cheng’s To Be a Woman won first place last night in the Redstone Film Festival, which featured the work of students from the College of Communication.
The Tsai Center was packed to capacity for the annual festival, sponsored by Viacom Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sumner Redstone, forcing the ushers to turn some students away. Attendees crowded the back walls and aisles to view the films.
Cheng’s documentary explored the “contrary values of being a Taiwanese woman caught between the customs and expectations of her generation and her mother’s generation,” she said. The unanimous first place decision earned her $2,000.
Judges said, “The carefully chosen scenes provided an insightful portrayal of a foreign culture with excitement and grace.” Karen Schmeer, a professional film editor, Bo Smith, head of the film program at the Museum of Fine Arts, and Sam Weisman, a professional actor and director, judged the films.
The Interview, by Galen Summer, took second place. The judges noted the film’s comedic timing and the leading characters’ performances. Summer received $1,000 for what he said was a comedy about “laser surgery, indigestion and mistaken identity.”
Judges awarded Bill Folman’s Disturbing Leonard with third place, and both Real Estate by Alicia Comperchio, and Eskimo Hill by Max Evry received honorable mentions.
“It was funny to see people surprised by the film, because it’s the most unsurprising thing to me right now,” Folman said. “The experience of seeing the film with a large receptive audience was neat.”
Larry Cohen, the main character in Disturbing Leonard, described a humorous filming experience during the showing.
“The first day of filming was like, ‘Uhhh … oh God I hope the whole shoot isn’t like this,'” Cohen said. “There was a lot of humiliation. I got grouchy because the script required so many things to be thrown at me.”
Cohen, a professional actor, said he was impressed with the ambition of Folman, and acted in the film as a personal favor for him because he was a friend from an improvisation class.
Student reaction was positive, and many attendees stayed after to discuss the results over coffee and cookies.
“The films were really good and impressed me,” said David Rothschild, a COM junior. “The acting was better than I expected, and it seemed to be organized really well. I liked the last one the best.”
In addition to films, awards were given for screenwriting. Carla Edmondson was the first place winner, taking home $1,000.
“I was nervous and surprised. I came tonight and didn’t know what to expect. When I walked to the stage, I was shaking like a leaf,” Edmondson said.
In a message for festival participants, Redstone said the films make a good statement about BU.
“The outstanding and varied films presented at this year’s festival underscore Boston University’s growing importance as a training ground for bright and innovative filmmakers,” the statement said. “I am proud to support the festival and have been privileged to watch it grow and prosper as an important outlet for young creative minds.”
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
