Cinefest Fairfield | Press Releases

6 p.m., Friday, May 3, 2013
Fairfield University's Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts
Free Admission

Image: Cinefest Fairfield University rolls out the red carpet at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts when it presents the 9th annual Cinefest Fairfield at 6 p.m., Friday, May 3, 2013. Cinefest Fairfield is an annual showcase for short films and videos produced by Fairfield University students in the Film, Television and Media Arts program in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts. Funding for the event comes from the Media Center, and the Film, Television and Media Arts program within the Department of Visual and Performing Arts. Admission is free.

Cinefest is a juried film festival which this year will feature a screening of 18 student films selected from 27 submissions. Judges consist of Fairfield University faculty members from the New Media Program and other departments, as well as university staff. The judges make their decisions in late April and also choose which of the films will win "Best" awards for Unproduced Screenplay, Fiction Film, Documentary, Screenplay, Director, Cinematography, Sound Design, Production Design, Producer, Editing, and Alternative Video. An "Audience Choice" award is also determined by the Cinefest audience immediately after the screenings. This year, there will be a special presentation of the Kenni Nwajagu Award , in memory of Kenni Nwajagu '12, who passed away in 2011.

"The films submitted to Cinefest Fairfield this year are wonderfully diverse, aesthetically beautiful, and speak to significant issues of the human condition," said Rev. James J. Mayzik S.J., an associate professor in Film, Television and Media Arts, and Director of the Media Center. "They are representative of the amazing work of all of our Film, Television and Media Arts students, of which we on the faculty are all so proud."

Graduating seniors direct or produce the majority of submissions, but work completed for classroom assignments or independent productions is welcome from all matriculating Fairfield University students. Since underclassmen participate in the production crews of senior capstone projects, Cinefest showcases the fruit of their labor even when directing credit belongs to upperclassmen. The average running time of each film is 15-20 minutes, and a wide variety of genres are represented - fiction, documentary, TV newsmagazine, music videos, experimental films, animation, even musical-variety.

Cinefest begins with an hour-long "red carpet" reception featuring stand-up interviews with student filmmakers and New Media faculty. Student hosts introduce each piece during the screening program followed by brief interviews with each filmmaker. The evening concludes with the Awards Ceremony, culminating with the 'Audience Choice' award. The event is televised live-to-tape for later broadcast on Fairfield University's Ham Channel with students in the Department of Visual Arts serving on the production crew.

Cinefest is part of the Film, Television and Media Arts program which seeks to educate students in the historical and intellectual traditions of cinema and television, to provide critical analysis of media artifacts and their production, and to teach production skills and practices used in the film and television industries.

The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts is located on the campus of Fairfield University at 1073 North Benson Road in Fairfield, Connecticut. Entrance to the Quick Center is through the Barlow Road gate at 200 Barlow Road. Free, secure parking is available. Access for people with disabilities is available throughout the Quick Center for audience members and performers. Hearing amplification devices are available upon request at the Box Office. Fairfield University is located off exit 22 of Interstate-95. For further information and directions, call (203) 254-4010 or 1-877-278-7396, or visit www.quickcenter.com .