By Ian Proano | Echo
As spring is busy making up its mind on whether or not to stay at Taylor, the Envision Film Festival is here once again, put on by art, film, and media department faculty and students. Kathy Bruner, co-chair of the art, film, and media department, is one of the faculty members on the committee who runs the festival.
"The goal (of Envision) is to honor aspiring filmmakers whose visual storytelling explores the range of human experience with hopeful vision, artistry, truthfulness and integrity," Bruner said.
This year will mark the ninth consecutive year of the Envision Film Festival. But the film festival portion of the event has an even longer standing tradition in Taylor's history. Before Envision, there was the Trojan Film Fest, which began in 1998 and was run by students, much like how Airband is now organized.
The Envision committee, which is comprised of both faculty and students, began preparation for this event in January. Each member is responsible for organizing a different portion of the festival, such as tonight's screening, the student competition and the workshops.
"I'm excited to see the vision unfold, because there's so much planning that goes into this," said junior Tiless Turnquest, a student co-producer of the festival.
Three Taylor alumni will run the event's workshops. These professionals took time off from the working world to illuminate students with what they've been learning. Walt Disney Imagineer Jonathan Friday ('10) will teach foundational storytelling techniques. Katy Andres ('09), who works on nature and wildlife projects, will talk about editing. Finally, currently working on a feature-length film, commercial director Ben Eisner ('99) will teach about good preproduction. Each will hold their workshops at different times throughout the weekend.
Winning films will receive prizes thanks to sponsorships from companies like Sony and Avid. The many student films are up for several awards from the festival, including Best Picture.
"It's nice that the whole Taylor community can come out and see what we're up to and what the students are up to," Steve Bailey, assistant professor in film and media and a member of the Envision committee, said.
The Envision Film Festival screening and awards will take place inRediger Auditorium at 7 p.m. tonight with free admission.
