Local film festival draws faithful, returning crowds

Film enthusiasts lined up along Commonwealth Avenue an hour before the 2009 Redstone Film Festival began to fill the 525 seats of the Tsai Performing Arts Center Wednesday night.’ The festival showcased original short films from Boston University students and alumni and presented prizes to three of them.

‘I’d have to be in a wheelchair to miss it,’ Alex Reed, a College of Communication junior, said.

Faculty and students from outside the College of Communication film department attended for ‘the fun of watching good movies for free,’ Emily Gasda, a College of Arts and Sciences freshman, said.

CAS professor Diane Meuser said she been trying to come for years, but a storm last year derailed her plans.

‘I’ve heard so much about the Redstone Festival,’ Meuser said. ‘I’m curious to see what it’s about.’

Festival coordinator Scott Thompson compared this year’s filmmakers postive attitudes to that of his 7-year-old son.

‘ ‘[They have] the same enthusiasm, fearlessness and certainty that their passion is their plan for the future,’ Thompson said.

The six short films that were presented included a range of genres and stories from artistic and delirious shots to comical and ironic quips.

‘ ‘This year’s festival demonstrated depth, breadth and range,’ COM professor Mary Jane Dorothy said.

Second-prize winner Charlie Anderson, who acted in his submission ‘Werewolf Trouble,’ said he did not envy the judges’ task.

‘It must have been extremely difficult to judge this contest not only because of the variety between the movies, but also because of the persistent quality of all of them,’ Anderson said.

The winning movie of this year’s festival was the drama ‘Sombra Azul,’ which is about the tragic end of a young woman who explored her sexual fantasies in a college swimming pool.

‘I’ve been fantasizing about this speech all week,’ winning filmaker Rosita Lama Muvdi said in her acceptance of the $2,000 prize.

‘The first time I pitched this naked idea to my family back in Columbia, I shocked my mother, but surprisingly my grandmother gave me her full support,’ Muvdi said.

Dorothy, who has taught film for almost 20 years, said she was impressed by the uniqueness of the films.

‘It is our job to teach students how to make movies that reflect themselves instead of BU, and today this is what I have seen,’ Dorothy said. ‘An individual voice encouraged a wide range of movies.’

Although some of the submissions had faults, the overall presentation was impressive, she said.

‘Of course the movies still need editing, but for the short semester schedule and tough budget these students were given to produce these movies, the result was impressive,’ Dorothy said.

Muvdi said the Redstone Film Festival is steadily gaining importance within the New England film community.

‘This is the festival I most wanted to win,’ Mudvi said. ‘Not only because of its recognition, but because I graduated from BU, it has a special meaning.’