Student Filmmakers Sparkle at State Festival

Two students from the San Diego State School of Theatre, Television and Film brought home top prizes at the 2011 CSU Media Arts Festival award competition.

The festival featured 39 student project finalists from throughout the California State University system, including six from SDSU.

Graduate students Josh Krohn and Pat Clark each received Rosebud Awards and $500 for ranking at the top of their categories.

Experimenting with art styles

Krohn won for his film, “A Clear Shot at the Door,” in the experimental category. The film showcases a mixture of art styles including metalwork, spoken word and music.

Focal Press, publisher of media technology books, ebooks, videos and tutorials, also awarded Krohn the Focal Press Excellence in Filmmaking Award earlier this year for his film.

“It is such an honor to win and have my film play along side so many other great films by fellow student filmmakers,” Krohn said.

“Competitions like this give us a chance to show our work to a larger audience and get feedback on how our films compare to other students outside of San Diego.”

Talking war

Clark’s film, “The Language of War,” won in the documentary category. The film examines the dangers faced by combat translators and the role language plays in war.

Clark came in second last year in the same category for his Vietnam War documentary, “The Last to Leave,” for which he was also awarded a student Emmy. He also helped shoot Krohn's award-winning film.

The four additional SDSU finalists placed in screenplay and narrative categories.

About the CSU Media Arts Festival

A panel of CSU faculty and industry professionals reviewed 162 entries before selecting the 39 finalists.  The finalists represented 10 CSU campuses, including:

• Channel Islands
• Fullerton
• Fresno
• Long Beach
• Los Angeles
• Northridge
• San Diego
• San Francisco
• San Jose
• San Marcos

CSU Summer Arts established the Media Arts Festival in 1991 to give talented students studying film, video and interactive media within the 23-campus California State University system an opportunity to present their work for critical review.

Distinguished CSU professors and industry leaders choose the student finalists and winners in the film, video and interactive media competition, and all finalist works are screened during the festival. Cash prizes and the prestigious Rosebud Award are awarded to the winning student entries.

For more information about the CSU Media Arts Festival, visit the website.