University of Connecticut Student Television is going to be hosting the first annual UCTV Film Festival on April 21, which will show student films from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Lawrence McHugh Building. UCTV is looking for student filmmakers to submit 10-minute films to the event and is accepting submissions from any students currently enrolled at a university or college.
In hosting this film festival, UCTV is hoping to celebrate “the diverse talents of emerging student filmmakers” from UConn’s student body, according to their website. Submissions to the film festival will be able to win two different awards: the Judges’ Choice Award, chosen by a panel of judges, and the Audience Choice Award, voted on by the attendees of the film festival.
Students interested in submitting a film can visit the UCTV Film Festival website. Entry into the festival is free for UConn students; non-UConn students will have to pay a $10 entry fee. Admission to the event is open to the public and is free of charge.
Patrick Carlon, the president of UCTV, talked about the film festival over email.
“We observed that in the past, UCTV primarily hosted events featuring guest speakers. While these events provided valuable industry insights for students, we noticed a decline in engagement over time,” Carlon said when talking about the motivation behind starting the film festival. “We decided to introduce a film festival as a means to not only captivate students but also celebrate their creative endeavors. We firmly believe that this initiative will provide aspiring filmmakers with a platform to showcase their work and receive constructive feedback, thereby better preparing them for their future careers in the industry.”
This will be the first time UCTV hosts a film festival, with the intent to make this an annual event. Carlon hopes to eventually turn the UCTV Film Festival into a bi-annual event and to reach out to even more universities and colleges to receive submissions from student filmmakers.
We decided to introduce a film festival as a means to not only captivate students but also celebrate their creative endeavors.
Patrick Carlon, President of UCTV
“We are deeply committed to highlighting the creative brilliance of college students in Connecticut and are genuinely excited about the opportunity to showcase the diverse talents of our participants,” Carlon said.
After the film festival, there will be a networking event happening in the Rainbow Center in the Student Union.
According to Carlon, UCTV is UConn’s sole student-run television station, which “serves as a source of news, event coverage, advertising, information and entertainment for its constituents” across six departments. The organization helps students learn about and prepare themselves for the media industry through the creation of original student-made content. For more information about UCTV, visit their website.