News and Accomplishments
News & Accomplishments from Professor Dylan Nelson
College/Departmental Awards:
In
May,
the
Richard
A.
Lewis
Memorial
Film
Award,
selected
by
an
interdisciplinary
panel
of
faculty
to
recognize
the
best
student
film
of
the
year,
was
awarded
to
Esther
Chan
'16for
her
thesis
film,
"In
the
Meadows."
The
documentary
follows
three
young
Colorado
Springs
friends
as
they
try
to
break
the
cycle
of
poverty
and
violence
they
have
experienced
in
their
lives.
Committee
members
praised
the
documentary
for
its
honesty,
its
execution
of
difficult
observational
techniques,
and
its
immersiveness,
clearly
the
result
of
a
close
relationship
between
filmmaker
and
subjects.
A
cash
prize
of
$1000
accompanied
this
year's
award.
The
Richard
A.
Lewis
Memorial
Film
Award
was
endowed
by
Estelle
and
Barton
Lewis
in
2002
to
honor
the
memory
of
their
son
Richard
'75.
The
award
serves
to
recognize
high-quality
student
work
as
well
as
provide
encouragement
and
support
for
future
film
projects.
Also
in
May,
the
2016
J.H.
Edmondson
Film
Outreach
Grant
was
awarded
to
two
seniors,
Tom
Crandall
'16
and
Courtney
Blackmer-Raynolds
'16,
in
support
of
their
completed
thesis
films.
Courtney's
documentary
"The
Confluence"
movingly
describes
the
controversy
surrounding
the
Grand
Canyon
Escalade
project,
a
development
proposed
to
be
built
on
Navajo
sacred
land.
Tom's
fiction
film
"Blinds"
explores
the
psychic
experiences
of
isolation,
voyeurism,
and
obsession.
The
purpose
of
the
J.H.
Edmondson
Film
Outreach
Grant
is
to
support
the
work
of
exceptional
student
filmmakers
by
encouraging
them
to
reach
out
to
audiences
beyond
the
college
community.
Grantees
are
reimbursed
for
costs
of
up
to
$100
associated
with
festival
applications
or
community
screenings
for
their
awarded
projects.
The
fund
was
established
through
a
seed
donation
by
the
Joseph
Henry
Edmondson
Foundation,
which
is
dedicated
to
enhancing
the
quality
of
life
throughout
Colorado's
Pikes
Peak
region
and
is
steeped
in
the
values
of
service,
creativity,
inquiry,
and
respect
for
community.
Both
these
awards
will
be
granted
again
next
spring
--
we
look
forward
to
the
next
great
batch
of
films!
Screenings
Beyond
the
College:
In
February,
Kendall
Rock
'15
screened
her
thesis
film,
"God's
in
the
Garage,"
at
the
Big
Sky
Documentary
Film
Festival
in
Bozeman,
MT.
Big
Sky
is
an
extremely
prestigious,
national-level
festival.
McCall
Sides
'16's
thesis
film
"Monrovia
in
Ruin,"
a
documentary
about
journalist
Ashoka
Mukpo's
experience
with
the
Ebola
virus,
was
accepted
to
screen
at
the
Santa
Fe
Independent
Film
Festival
October
19-23,
2016.
It
is
the
festival's
8th
year
of
promoting
excellence
in
filmmaking
in
the
New
Mexico
region.
Courtney
Blackmer-Raynolds
'16's
thesis
film,
"The
Confluence",
premiered
September
28th
at
the
Grand
Canyon
Trust
in
Flagstaff,
AZ
and
will
be
featured
at
numerous
events
in
the
Grand
Canyon
area
in
the
coming
weeks,
including
an
album
release
party
for
Diné
musician
Radilla
Cody.
Watch
it
online
here
on
Save
The
Confluence's
website.
Tom
Crandall
'16,
Elle
Gannon
'18,
and
Andrew
DesLauriers
'16
had
their
film
from
2015's
Advanced
Filmmaking
class,
"Solo,"
accepted
into
the
2016
Rocky
Mountain
Women's
Film
Festival.
"Solo"
explores
a
woman's
internal
and
romantic
conflict
regarding
an
upcoming
dance
performance.
Esther
Chan's
Lewis
Award-winning
thesis
documentary,
"In
the
Meadows,"
was
also
accepted
to
the
festival.
The
Rocky
Mountain
Women's
Film
Festival
is
the
oldest
film
festival
in
the
country
dedicated
solely
to
films
by
or
about
women;
it
is
highly
selective
and
very
well
regarded
in
the
national
film
community.
The
Festival
takes
place
at
Colorado
College
and
the
Fine
Arts
Center
November
13-15,
2016.
Tickets
are
FREE
for
students
this
year
--
make
sure
you
attend
this
wonderful
fest!
Mark
your
calendars
for
Monday
nights
in
October!
Rocky
Mountain
PBS
has
created
a
new
program,
"In
Short,"
to
showcase
student
film
work
across
Colorado.
The
first
season
consists
entirely
of
CC
student
documentary
work,
most
of
which
was
created
in
the
two
block
summer
course,
The
Colorado
Documentary
Project
(which
we
intend
to
offer
again
in
summer
2017).
The
Colorado
Documentary
Project
is
dedicated
to
gripping
storytelling,
original
research,
and
community-building
through
the
production
and
distribution
of
documentary
films
about
this
region.
Five
episodes
will
air
at
10:30
pm
Monday
nights
in
October
on
Rocky
Mountain
PBS,
featuring
wonderful
films
by
Ana
Pena
'15,
Robert
Mahaffie
'15,
Dan
Levitt
'15,
Jeremy
Flood
'15,
McKenzie
Ross
'15,
Eliza
Densmore
'15,
Tom
Crandall
'16,
Brooke
Davis
'16,
Djake
Carroll
'16,
Angela
Kong
'17,
Mitra
Ghaffari
'17,
Charlie
Theobald
'17,
Francesca
Mastrianni
'18
andJosh
Lauer
'19.
In the World:
Robert
Redford
and
Jane
Fonda
are
in
town,
shooting
a
Netflix-produced
feature
based
on
the
late
Kent
Haruf's
final
novel,
"Our
Souls
at
Night,"
and
our
recent
grads
are
right
in
the
thick
of
it!
Tom
Crandall
'16,
Djake
Carroll
'16,
and
Courtney
Blackmer-Raynolds
'16
all
got
jobs
as
production
assistants
on
the
project.
In
fact,
check
out
this
pic
of
Courtney
(on
left,
taken
by
Jerrilee
Bennett
for
the
Gazette)
with
Redford
himself
(she's
his
personal
assistant
while
he's
on
set!).
With
the
help
of
a
dedicated
cast
and
crew
of
alums,
current
students,
and
members
of
the
Colorado
Springs
community,
Robert
Mahaffie
'15
and
Arielle
Mari
'12
shot
a
feature
film
this
summer.
The
film,
working
title
"Carmen
and
Jorge,"
was
written,
directed,
and
produced
by
Mari,
produced
and
assistant
directed
by
Mahaffie,
with
cinematography
bySophia
Capp
'17
and
starring
Isabella
Egizi
'16.
McCall
Sides
'16,
Emilia
Whitmer
'16,
Tinka
Avramov
'16,
Holly
Pretsky
'16,
Grace
Coomaraswamy
'17,
and
Kaitlyn
Hickmann
'18all
worked
as
crew.
The
film
is
currently
being
edited.
Caitlin
Taber
'17,
supported
by
a
Venture
Grant,
had
an
internship
with
the
American
Pavilion
at
the
2016
Cannes
Film
Festival,
arguably
the
premier
film
festival
in
the
world.
Charlie
Theobald
'17
worked
at
Little
White
Lies,
a
London-based
film
magazine,
over
the
summer.
He
attended
advance
screenings
and
reviewed
upcoming
releases,
wrote
brief
news
articles
for
the
magazine's
website,
and
copy-edited
and
did
research
for
the
most
recent
print
issue.
Elle
Gannon
'18
interned
this
summer
at
Vanity
Fair
magazine,
under
West
Coast
Editor
Krista
Smith
'87;
Corrina
Leatherwood
'18
was
an
editorial
intern
on
the
show
"Teen
Wolf,"
both
in
Los
Angeles.
Kaitlyn
Hickmann
'18
received
a
Student-Faculty
Research
Grant
to
work
with
me
on
my
in-progress
documentary
feature,
which
attempts
to
solve
a
Holocaust-era
mystery.
In
August,
Sophia
Capp
'17
became
the
first-ever
CC-Rocky
Mountain
Women's
Film
Institute
Fellow,
receiving
a
stipend
of
$500
for
ongoing
work
with
the
Rocky
Mountain
Women's
Film
Festival.
Congratulations
to
all
these
very
talented
filmmakers!
Please
send
us
your
accomplishments
for
future
praise.
Our
film-related
alumni
continue
to
thrive
in
Los
Angeles,
New
York,
Boston,
and
elsewhere,
working
as
editors,
cinematographers,
casting
agents,
documentary
filmmakers,
screenwriters,
producers,
and
everything
in
between.
Looking forward to a great year,
Dylan
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Last updated: 12/17/2020