Campus MovieFest, the world’s largest student film festival, held its International Grand Finale in Hollywood, Calif. on June 23-26, 2011. The Campus MovieFest red carpet finale at The University of Alabama was held on Feb. 10, 2011, at the Ferguson Center Theater. Five teams who won Best Picture, Best Comedy, Best Drama, the AT&T Audience Choice Winner and Staff Pick at The University of Alabama were invited to attend the International Grand Finale in Hollywood.
Several UA students went to Hollywood and came home with top awards including the Best 3D Movie, Top 5 Comedy and two films placed in the Top 28 films of hundreds of films from 75 universities across the globe.
University of Alabama New College/Telecommunication and Film media production student Xavier Burgin, a senior from Columbus, Miss., was awarded the CMF 3D Award for his documentary “Portrait of a Storm: Tuscaloosa, AL.” He won a $5,000 scholarship and a Panasonic Micro Audio System. Below is a short account of Xavier’s experience in Hollywood…
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| CMF 2011 International Grand Finale on the Warner Brothers Lot in Hollywood. |
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| UA Students at the CMF International Grand Finale in Hollywood. |
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| Xavier Burgin, CMF 3D Winner, giving a speech at the CMF Finale in Hollywood. |
The Campus Moviefest International Grand Finale was an amazing experience that was tinged with the faint signs of what it would one day be like if any of the aspiring filmmakers present made it to the Oscars. You’re treated as the best of the best. The brightest individuals from a culmination of film-work toiled over for an entire year. It’s an unbelievable high until you realize every person in the room has the same aspirations as you and some are far more talented.
We were also given the opportunity to speak with industry level individuals who have already established themselves. Panels included award winning American Film Institute graduates, the Funny or Die website and company staff, Gabourney Sidibe (the woman who played Precious), and the director behind the X-Men movies. Overall, the panel experience allowed us an honest insight into the industry, which was also brutally harsh. The main message we received from many was that most of us wouldn’t make it, but the only way to make it was to keep making movies and working. It seemed as if breaking into the industry (by their standards) was thirty percent hard (very hard) work and the rest was connections and luck.
On Friday, June 24, the morning before the finale, Campus Moviefest screened all of the films that won at 75 campuses across the world and allowed the filmmakers to stand up for a brief period to speak about the films they made. There were so many films made, by a plethora of filmmakers that they had to section off the screening into six separate time periods in three separate theaters. Watching other filmmaker’s work brought to mind an idea I stated earlier: It is only after you get to watch films made by other students that you realize the surmounting abundance of passion and commonality you hold with individuals in the screening with you. You were watching the aspirations of a small community of filmmaker’s working towards making a name for themselves in the industry.
The awards ceremony was set up in the back lots of Warner Bros. Studios. It was exciting yet eerily creepy since the back lot of WB was a fully integrated town with no inhabitants, just a barren place filled with the presence of people when a movie involved its use. A slew of celebrities came out for the awards show. Actors such as Rob Corrdry from Children’s Hospital and The Daily Show came to the premiere and spoke. T.J. Miller from Cloverfield and Get Him to the Greek, Gabourney Sidibe from Precious, and Jeff Goldblum from Jurrasic Park and Armageddon attended the awards and introduced the nominees and winners.
I remember when they began the routine introductory speech for my category. My palms got sweaty, my legs shaked, and I could feel my heart pounding on the inside of my chest. It was literally all the cheesy ideas you see in sappy movies about making movies and bad Golden Globe or Oscar Award’s speeches. When my name was called for Best 3D Film a weight lifted off my shoulders and another rested atop my head when I realized I had to give a speech. Still, I managed to trudge forward and give an outstanding speech on the devastation of the Tuscaloosa Tornado and the necessity of keeping our plight in the limelight of the media’s eyes.
As I walked backed to my seat, I then honestly realized I won something significant to my heart. It felt like a validation of my work. Even though my first film “Bottom of a Glass” didn’t win, if I had not made that movie first, I would have never gotten the chance to work on the 3D film, which allowed me to move on the next level and make my award-winning film.
After the awards ceremony, there was an abundance of congratulations, handshakes and exchanging of business cards. Overall, the feeling of validity through winning draws people towards you, whether it is out of genuine interest or their need to keep in contact with those who have garnered even a small measure of success in this competitive industry.
Overall, I enjoyed myself thoroughly at the Campus MovieFest International Grand Finale. After the awards were over, I got back to my room and counted up the amount of business cards I had. I had given out more than 200 and received around 140 or so. I sat down the next day and emailed everyone I met to keep in touch as well as join an online networking group I started so we could network even after this was over.
This entire event felt like a microcosm of the industry. A smaller version of where I (or any of us) could be if we are successful. I may not meet everyone at the top, and I may not even make it to the top, but these were the people I would later shake hands with if I did. I was introduced to the industry in a sterile environment, but one that gave me a good glimpse of what it means to win and lose all at the same time.
-Xavier Burgin
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