Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE: KODK) announced the winners of its 25th annual KODAK Student Scholarship Program, Wednesday, Aug. 3rd, at the 70th annual University Film & Video Association (UFVA) Conference, held at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. This international competition is part of Kodak’s long-held commitment to encourage and foster the next generation of filmmakers and honors students who demonstrate exemplary skills and creativity in the art of motion pictures.
Held in conjunction with the University Film & Video Foundation (UFVF), the 501c(3) arm of the UFVA, which promotes worldwide education, research, innovation and charitable activities in the arts and sciences of moving images and aural communication, this competition is open to collegiate students at the undergraduate and graduate levels of accredited film programs.
This year’s competition received a record number of entries and, due to an increase in submissions of outstanding movies shot on film, an honorable mention category was added to the KODAK Vision Award, celebrating the artistry of using real film.
“We are excited to be supporting the next generation of motion picture artists,” said Steve Bellamy, president of Motion Picture and Entertainment at Kodak. “In this, our 25th year of supporting emerging filmmakers, we are deeply committed to curating the best-of-the-best of next-generation motion picture icons. Video cameras have come so far and have wonderful utility. A huge number of talented people shoot video and we are finding a great niche among them who want to get into film. The number of submissions to this year’s competition shot on film have doubled!”
Added Norman Hollyn, professor at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and president of the UFVF, “Congratulations to all of the finalists of the UFVA/Kodak Scholarship program. The UFVA’s mission is the advancement of the teaching of the art and craft of the cinematic arts. The high quality of these works shows just how valuable the mentorship provided in film schools continues to be, even in this DIY world. I am proud that Kodak has been our long-time partner in this mission and am thrilled to work with them to award these scholarships. Kodak’s dedication to the art of motion pictures is well known. It is also important to acknowledge the company’s commitment to the scholarship and teaching of the art.”
Selected from among 131 entries from across the country and around the world, the 2016 winners are:
KODAK Student Cinematography Scholarship Awards:
- KODAK Vision Award — $3,000 Tuition Scholarship Award & $5,000 KODAK Motion Picture Product Grant. To qualify for this award, a minimum of 50 percent of the submission was required to be shot on film. DP Jomo Fray, Worcester, Mass., a graduate student at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, was selected for his drama Get Out Fast, which was shot on s16mm and Super 8, using a mix of KODAK VISION3 color negative film, s16mm 250D and 500T and s8 500T. Says Fray, “The film required a look that was at once organic and also electric. After shooting countless tests, that could only truly be achieved by shooting on film.” In this skillfully shot drama, a 15-year-old boy remembers his best friend, Coyote Boy, a restless, train-hopping drifter who has gone missing from their small town.
- First Place — $3,000 Tuition Scholarship Award & $5,000 KODAK Motion Picture Product Grant. Writer-director-DP Sonja Tsypin, New York, N.Y., an undergrad at Bard College in Hudson, N.Y., was chosen for her dramatic narrative Powder Room and will be attending the American Film Institute as a cinematography fellow in the fall. Her half-hour drama follows Vera, star of a wildly popular online video channel who hasn’t left her apartment in over four years, her struggle with confronting her past and, ultimately, facing herself.
- KODAK Vision Award, Honorable Mention — $1,000 Tuition Scholarship Award & $500 KODAK Motion Picture Product Grant. Shot on KODAK VISION3 s16mm 200T color negative film, cinematographer Thomas Doran, Cardiff, Wales, received an honorable mention for his fantasy short The Sea, the God and the Man. Doran is studying at the National Film and Television School in the U.K. In the film, an ancient Asian god of water, abandoned by his worshippers, returns to the boat that brought him west many years prior in search of new followers. There, he finds a man who has made the vessel his home in order to escape the encroaching threat of urbanization.
KODAK Student Scholarship Awards:
- Gold Award — $5,000 Tuition Scholarship Award & $5,000 KODAK Motion Picture Product Grant. Cinematographer and director Lauren Gillis Mueller hails from Portland, Ore., and is studying at Duke University, Durham, N.C. Her docu-fiction The Gibbons of Santa Clarita takes a look at the psychological effects captivity can have on the endangered ape species, Gibbons.
- Silver Award — $3,000 Tuition Scholarship Award & $3,000 KODAK Motion Picture Product Grant. Nathan Hughes-Berry, from Liverpool, England, and a graduate student at York University in Toronto, directed and produced The Substitute. In this horror-thriller, a young teacher takes a job at an unusual private school where she soon discovers the boys have a sinister power over the girls … Could an ominous locked door at the back of the classroom be causing the strange behavior?
- Bronze Award — $2,000 Tuition Scholarship Award & $3,000 KODAK Motion Picture Product Grant. Mounia Akl, Beirut, Lebanon, studying for her masters in fine arts at New York’s Columbia University School of the Arts, wrote and directed Submarine. In this thoughtful drama, under the imminent threat of Lebanon’s garbage crisis, a young woman refuses to evacuate, clinging to whatever remains of home.
Kodak has long held a deep commitment to supporting future filmmakers and encouraging excellence in the field of motion picture education through many initiatives and 2016 marked the 25th anniversary of this scholarship program. The company’s ongoing efforts encompass a range of opportunities, which students and educators can use to enrich their knowledge of the art and craft of filmmaking, including educational materials and discounts; and sponsorship of film festivals, awards, seminars and student showcases.
For more information on Kodak’s educational programs, visit: www.kodak.com/go/education
