Out of the nine Cal State Long Beach student film entries, three were awarded first place in the 17th annual CSU Media Arts Festival earlier this month at California State University, Channel Islands in Camarillo.
The Media Arts Festival’s purpose was to help students in the CSU system make a successful transition between producing films, video and interactive media in college to actually working in the industry.
Festival director Joanne Bartok Sharp said the festival displayed 230 entries from 15 campuses in the categories of narrative, documentary, television, animation, interactive media, music video, experimental, feature screenplay and short screenplay.
After living in the United States for the past three years, Japan native Kazuki Hirata won the Rosebud Award for his six-minute long experimental film, “Follow Your Heart.”
A junior film and electronics major, Hirata was quite surprised and pleased that his film took the top prize in the experimental category.
“Follow Your Heart” uses a dual screen in which two cameras follow a dead husband’s frantic search to find his wife. Hirata described the film as a “spiritual drama.”
Film and electronics majors and seniors Connor O’Brien and Cuauhtzin Gutierrez also won the Rosebud Award for directing and producing the music video for “La Policia” for the band Pistol Pistol.
The video is a nod to the Beastie Boys’ classic music video, “Sabotage.” “La Policia” features a couple of mustachioed detectives clad in sunglasses who chase criminals through the streets of Los Angeles.
The video has been getting feedback and reviews from students as well.
“I think what people were most impressed by are with the special effects and the cinematography,” O’Brien said.
“It means a lot to win an award like this.” O’Brien added, admitting he, too, was quite surprised when he heard the news.
All three students received a $500 cash prize in addition to the Rosebud Award. In addition, the awards earned the CSULB Film and Electronics Department a $250 cash prize for each winning category.
“Winning an award like this really shows that the doors of opportunity are there and the future looks promising,” Gutierrez said. “It’s a great feeling. I hope it will bring bigger and better projects.”
