While most students will be busying themselves with studying for final exams, a group of film students will be rolling out the red carpet and dressing in their best formal attire for the fifth annual SBCC Film Awards—all in the midst of finals week.
The SBCC Film Community will hold the awards show at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 10, in the Fe Bland Forum. The event highlights student films from throughout the year that were made for classes or clubs.
“The Film Awards is kind of an event organized by film students for film students, but it’s open to everyone,” said Ida Sjoeberg Dahlgren, student president for the SBCC Film Community, in a phone interview. “It’s sort of our mini Oscars for the SBCC students.”
The awards committee is comprised of a group of 10 to 15 film students, who have been working hard this semester to put on the event, meeting every Wednesday to plan the show.
Film production major Dilay Sayer, who serves as marketing coordinator for the committee, described the group as “like a family.”
“We have an incredible team,” Sayer said.
The first half of the event will show 20 to 25 short films and music videos that will be selected by the awards committee. Films can be entered into multiple categories with a total of 13 categories.
They include best editing, best original score, best director, best set design, best screenplay, best documentary, best actress, best actor, best costume, best sound design and best picture.
A new category added this year is best visual effects. There will also be an audience’s choice award.
Judges for the event include Curtis Bieber, film and television production department chair, Osiris Castaneda, film and television production instructor, and Stephen Da Vega, associate film and media studies professor. The event will be moderated by film production major Rafael Bonafe Costa.
“He has a great character,” Sayer added. “Everyone knows about Rafa.”
The second half of the event will be devoted to the awards portion. Winners will be awarded with certificates from the committee for their award-winning films.
“It’s a passion for us film students,” Sayer said. “I want them to feel appreciative of their work and the work they will do in the future, inspiring future generations of students coming in to make movies.”
The committee requests that at least one representative per film is present to accept the award.
Submitted films cannot be more than 15 minutes long and must be submitted in an Apple ProRes format. The deadline to submit films is 4:30 p.m. Friday, May 5.
The committee will watch and select films over the weekend, while keeping in mind a set order to screen the films for the show.
In past years, the event was held the same evening as commencement. However, this year students organizing the event wanted to show more films and moved the date to Wednesday so they could schedule the event an hour earlier to showcase more movies, Sjoeberg Dahlgren said.
While the show officially starts at 7 p.m., attendees are invited to enjoy food and refreshments from 6 to 7 p.m. while waiting for the show to start. A live student DJ will also perform music and entertainment.
Tickets for the event are $5 and can be purchased from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at Humanities Building Room 233. Tickets will also be sold at the door for $7. Attendees are encouraged to dress in formal attire.
Funds raised from the event will go towards planning for next year’s film awards.
“We have an incredible film department. The professors are amazing. The people are amazing,” Sayer said. “It’s work that comes from everyone’s soul.”
