College of Arts and Media rolls out the red carpet to celebrate student films

Photos by Megan Eddy

Dapper suits, stylish dresses, big smiles and cheerful chatter filled Grand Canyon University’s Ethington Theatre Friday night for the annual GCU Film Festival, a night to celebrate students’ hard work and dedication.

“Every year, it is a way to celebrate what the students have accomplished,” said Digital Film Chair Lisa Tervo of the festival, whose winners get the chance to attend the Sundance Film Festival, courtesy of a generous grant from the Bridges/Larson Foundation.

“Screening film in classes is great, but it is not such a big, momentous occasion. Films are so difficult to make. It takes a lot of time, so having the festival means to celebrate that amount of time and effort students put in.”

The night, sponsored by the Bridges-Larson Foundation, featured a 90-minute screening of two films in each of nine categories. Those categories included documentary, drama, comedy, faith, alumni, animation, music video, thriller and, for the first time, dance.

“Dance Chair Bekki Price shared with me one of her student's films that got into this outside film festival,” Tervo said. “I saw it and thought, ‘This is fantastic! Why don’t we have a dance film category?’ So, I just said, 'Let’s do it.'”

When senior dance major Kiera Boatman heard about the opportunity, she knew she had to enter.

Film and dance are individually well known, but together, it is a very underground community, Boatman said. Dance film is an intriguing medium that gives the artist the ability to control how the viewers will see the product versus putting it on a live stage.

In her production, “All the Women in Me Are Tired,” Boatman explores female frustrations when working in a predominately male workplace.

The film, which took the trophy for best dance category, features a woman dancing out her frustrations after getting home from work and using the art as a creative outlet to destress and release emotions she cannot express out loud.

“Trying to create and put your art out there in a professional setting is hard,” Boatman said. “Creating a dance category specifically for this film festival is amazing and it will start a lot (offer a lot of opportunities) for future dance filmmakers.”

Added senior dance major Jordan Garrison, who portrays the female dancer in Boatman’s film, “This gives us another big creative outlet, and I really hope the audience feels empowerment.”

Festival participation was open to all students. A month before the big night, students turned in their final products, which Tervo forwarded to a panel of judges consisting of past winners, alumni and fellow film industry professionals.

Students only had two requirements: Do not go over 12 minutes, and tap into your most creative, artsy culture.

For senior film major Kennedy Beckius, this meant filming a documentary on something that was once a big part of her life and has shaped who she is today: her time as a gymnast.

Just two days before summer ended and Beckius returned to campus, she gathered her former gymnastics team in their old practice gym to film their reunion and a documentary on their time as a team, who they were then and who they are today.

“We grew up doing gymnastics and were a really close team, but as you grow up, you also grow apart,” Beckius said.

“We had this really intense shared experience. We were so close, yet our lives went in such different ways. I was curious to see even if it is so different, how are we still connected?”

Her film, “Reunion,” which won the best documentary category, is a compilation of interviews of each of the gymnasts from present day while featuring short snippets from their past that showed how they all grew up together through the sport.

“I thought I’d most remember winning, but when I was packing up my medals and trophies, I didn’t remember winning any of those,” shared Beckius. “I remember the friendships and the lessons the girls taught me.”

Beckius’ tear-jerking film led her to also win the Best of the Best trophy at the end of the festival.

“The best part is these 30 minutes after the festival where it is just students in Ethington looking at the posters, taking photos with each other, with their trophies, talking to other winners, teachers, the dean and just celebrating the night,” said Tervo.

Other GCU Film Festival winners are:

GCU staff writer Izabela Fogarasi can be reached at [email protected]

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