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You can
be entertained in under 120 seconds... these college
filmmakers say so!
Who Says Two Minutes Isn't Long Enough?
By Feona Sharhran
Huff
December 2000
The CollegeBound Network NewsClick -- Lots of
things can happen in two minutes. You can sprint
two laps around a track. Eat a 12-piece order
of hot-and-spicy wingettes from KFC (if you're
hungry!). Or, watch a creative short, short film.
Students at the University
of Florida (UF), Gainesville, FL, got their two-minute
flick on last month, when about 75 students settled
into the movie room of The Reitz Union, UF's student
center. The occasion? An opportunity to share
a bunch of laughs, oohhs, and aaaahhs, as they
watched two-minute films created by filmmakers
with great ideas but low budgets via the Short
Attention Span Film and Video Festival. The Short
Attention Span Film and Video Festival will be
traveling to nearly 100 U.S. colleges and universities
this year, representing more than 1.5 million
students.
"It was an interesting
experience," says Virginia Thompson, co-director
of UF's Reitz Union Film Committee. That's because
the film and video festival featured commercial-free
works in categories such as comedy, animation,
experimental, documentary, and public service
announcements, all of which were completed on
high-quality digital equipment. "It was something
students don't normally see at a local theater."
It's also an event not
often brought to the college campus. "We don't
get a lot of film festivals," explains Thompson.
That's why she told tour manager, Paul Marchan,
that she was quite interested in his bringing
the unique films festival to the school.
Denise Goggin, a fourth-year
English student at UF who aspires to become a
filmmaker, says the festival was awesome. "I like
to see what other kids are up to," she says of
the two-minute-or-shorter films, most of which
were created by college students. Her favorite
was the film Toy Trouble, starring "Sean
Connery" in a James Bond-like operation with all
the action and suspense of the real thing. The
one difference? Connery and the other characters
were toy figures. She also got a kick out of Anarchy
Monkey, about a monkey with a blue mohawk
who was your friend as long as you didn't make
him mad (watch out Chuckie!).
Students at New York University,
California State University, Boston University,
and Clemson University are among the schools that
have viewed the festivals' 60-70 two-minute films.
Look for it at a campus near you!
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For more on The Short Span Film and
Video Festival, hit its official Web
site.
· For more on funky film festivals,
keep surfing: Get news and a schedule
of events here;
and links to other fesdtival sites
here.
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