By Delaney Tufts, Features Editor
The 14th annual Highbridge Film Festival brought hundreds of students to Hughes Auditorium last Saturday. The highly anticipated event showcased 12 student films. Awards were presented and the event ended with an after-party in the Miller building. This event was possible thanks to the filmmakers and crew who helped bring their visions to life and to all the students who helped produce and promote the event.
In addition, the awards ceremony was possible thanks to the judges. Typically judges who have experience in the film industry are brought in to critique the films. The judges critique the films based on specific categories, including cinematography, acting, sound editing and screenwriting.This year, four judges with different film backgrounds were selected: David Manos Morris, Sheryl Anderson, Steve Greisen and Christine Swanson. For all four judges, this was their first time attending Highbridge.
Morris’ career includes freelance work as a visual effects supervisor for independent films, videos and commercials. Morris has gained 65 film credits over his time working in this industry. He has also worked as a digital artist for Lucas Films/Industrial Light & Magic. He has worked on several familiar films, “from ‘Avatar,’ ‘Ready Player One,’ ‘A Quiet Place’ all the way back to ‘Twister,’ ‘Casper,’ the Star Wars movies and Harry Potter. To be able to go, ‘Yeah, I worked on Harry Potter’ is wonderful. And I realize how very rare that is,” he said.
One thing Morris enjoys most about his work is seeing his name up on the screen. “I’ve also had my face on screen. I’m visible but not always recognizable in five of the Star Wars movies…. Other times I’m wearing an alien head, so you can’t recognize me. And that’s tremendous fun.”
Anderson is the creator and executive producer of Ties That Bind, UP TV’s first original scripted series. She worked as a television studio executive, screenwriter and half-hour series writer. She moved to writing and producing hour-long series, working on a wide range of series and selling pilots to Disney, SyFy, NBC and Lifetime. She is currently writing a movie for Hallmark. Anderson is also the author of the Molly Forrester Mystery series of novels.
She said she judges films mostly by asking, “’Is this a good story well told?’ But I also appreciate all the moving pieces that go into making a film. I was careful to look at the editing and the cinematography and the acting. But in all honesty, I’m looking to be engaged and moved. A movie that can surprise me has my undying affection, because it’s sort of an occupational hazard.” Anderson’s advice for people pursuing this field is “to stick up for yourself. Believe in yourself, believe in what you’re doing and why you were called to do it. It’s a tough road, even after you’ve been doing it for a really long time. There are going to be plenty of people who are going to tell you no. It’s a business where it’s really important to be in community with people who are going after the same things that you are, not just in art but in faith.”
Greisen is a documentary filmmaker. He has earned numerous awards, including 44 international Telly Awards. Being a self-taught documentary filmmaker, he has gotten a lot of inspiration from the crazy stories and people he has encountered along his journeys.
“I’m doing documentaries because I grew up in the third world culture. I was around remarkable stories, real life stories. For me, documentaries resonate because I like the real-life stuff and I’ve met more crazy people doing crazy things in real life and I know that some of those plots are better than anything Hollywood could have ever written. Some of those stories are just unbelievable,” Greisen said.
After being in this field, Greisen’s told students, “Get up close and personal with a great production company that’s doing good work. Don’t focus just on Christian production companies. Production companies are production companies. I want to see Christians in places of influence, doing better work than their competitors and bringing their worldview into writing, to story and everything else. Make yourself invaluable and bring your Christian work ethic, bring your Christian character, the things people can bank on. And you will become invaluable. You also have to do your 10,000 hours. That’s 10,000 hours of anything to be proficient in it. I did mine.”
Swanson is an award-winning filmmaker. She has developed and/or directed movie projects for various companies including HBO Films, Magnolia Pictures, State Street Pictures, TV One and Faith Filmworks, her own independent film company. Swanson’s told students to persevere despite challenges.
“Productions always don’t go well. What we call filmmaking is overall chaos. That’s just the nature of production. How do you manage that? If you cannot handle crisis constantly, this is not for you. You go out there and learn stuff as a PA and you see the sky fall and you watch how other people handle it. You figure out if you have the dexterity to be one of those people or not. Obstacles exist. Be the person who can hurdle obstacles constantly and you’ll be successful. Expect chaos, expect the sky to fall all the time, be a problem solver. You have to think on your toes. I think college prepares you for that, but life will show you for sure, if you didn’t get it there.”
