First Place - St. Jude's by Matt Cole & Bob Parsalitti
Second Place (and People's Choice Award) - Kisses by Bridget Mackowiak
Third Place - A Cloudy Day by Justin Kaplan
Introduction to the Causes Film Festival
Submit a 90 Second Video for your cause.
When / Where ?
The Causes Film Festival was held on April 29, 2011. A 2012 Causes Film Festival will be announced in the Fall of 2011.
Who?
Students, faculty, alums, community members are invited to enter.
Why?
Because you care.
Because you are interested in prize money: First place $150, Second place $100, Third place $50, People's Choice Award $100.
Because you are interested in prize money: First place $150, Second place $100, Third place $50, People's Choice Award $100.
What's Your Cause?
A cause can be anything. Tangible, or simply an idea, it can stir the emotions and inspire a commitment to action that could change the way a person approaches each day, and produce fundamental change in society. Everyone has a cause that is near and dear to them and as Margaret Meade once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” But how does one share and communicate the importance of his or her own cause? There is facebook and myspace and twitter and a host of other cyber-social networking sites to employ, and they are quite useful as a forum for ideas, but the impact of people gathering together in one place has never been surpassed. In an effort to unite both the virtual community and the physical community, we propose “Causes”.
"Causes" is a film festival at which ninety second mini-documentaries will be shown at first to a local audience and later, be posted on the Internet for anyone, anywhere to see. The only stipulation is that the "documentaries" should highlight a cause in the Western New York area. The cause could be environmentalism, social injustice, gender equality or women's issues. It could be homelessness or education or racism. It could even be a cause waiting to be discovered by a larger audience. The event, which would be a supplementary event of the SUNY-wide Film Festival, will engage judges and present prizes for the top three films as well as a “people’s choice” award.
We invite anyone in the area to participate in this project--surely everyone is aware of something that needs improvement in the community. Here's a great opportunity to begin the process of change. Just write a script, then, camera in hand, let your creativity run wild. This would be an ideal way for the do-it-yourself filmmaker to circumvent the mainstream media and promote ways to improve and strengthen the quality of life in Western New York. As Maya Angelou once said, “You cannot use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” We envision our film festival as an annual forum for students and the community to not only artistically address injustice and impact the society in which they live, but to grow in size and scope to the point where it may eventually spread beyond Fredonia State to the rest of the SUNY family, creating an even larger movement for positive change.
"Causes" is a film festival at which ninety second mini-documentaries will be shown at first to a local audience and later, be posted on the Internet for anyone, anywhere to see. The only stipulation is that the "documentaries" should highlight a cause in the Western New York area. The cause could be environmentalism, social injustice, gender equality or women's issues. It could be homelessness or education or racism. It could even be a cause waiting to be discovered by a larger audience. The event, which would be a supplementary event of the SUNY-wide Film Festival, will engage judges and present prizes for the top three films as well as a “people’s choice” award.
We invite anyone in the area to participate in this project--surely everyone is aware of something that needs improvement in the community. Here's a great opportunity to begin the process of change. Just write a script, then, camera in hand, let your creativity run wild. This would be an ideal way for the do-it-yourself filmmaker to circumvent the mainstream media and promote ways to improve and strengthen the quality of life in Western New York. As Maya Angelou once said, “You cannot use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” We envision our film festival as an annual forum for students and the community to not only artistically address injustice and impact the society in which they live, but to grow in size and scope to the point where it may eventually spread beyond Fredonia State to the rest of the SUNY family, creating an even larger movement for positive change.