On April 9th, 10th and 11th, 2005, Brandeis University will be hosting the Second Annual SunDeis Student Film Festival. The fest had a dramatic inaugural run in April, 2004—it was large and successful, despite being the first program of its kind at a school without an existing film production program. This year, SunDeis will be returning with film screenings, seminars and panels led by industry leaders from New England and Hollywood, networking opportunities, and a Filmmaker’s Forum. The festival will be concluded with an awards ceremony on the evening of the 11th that promises to be both fun and fancy.
The festival, founded last year by Brandeis students, heavily focuses on student filmmakers and the challenges they face, trying to expand their careers in even the most distant U.S. region from Hollywood’s cinematic heartbeat. The festival strives to help student filmmakers build relationships with each other and with the numerous companies that form the New England film industry.
Last year’s festival brought filmmakers from New England and beyond to a three-day festival of over thirty films, ranging across a wide variety of genres and forms. The winning film (Best in Show) was a documentary by a Harvard student, “Ain’t No Cure for the Summertime Blues.” Over $7,000 in prizes were awarded for outstanding achievements, donated by New England companies dedicated to supporting student filmmakers. And while SunDeis is not strictly Jewish, many of last year’s films had Jewish content, including Of a Man, a short concept piece on the Holocaust.
This year, the festival weekend coincides with the final weekend of the Annual Jewish Film Festival hosted by Brandeis University and the National Center for Jewish Film. Several of the filmmakers whose films are being screened by the Jewish Film Festival will be participating in SunDeis as well, leading seminars or speaking on panels.\t
Although this year’s films have not yet been selected, entries have been sent from as far as Oxford University. SunDeis’s founders look forward to an outstanding second festival.
