Education News: Top Stories

Student film wins top award

The M.U.M. Review
Maharishi University of Management, Iowa, USA Translate This Article
26 May 2007

The Iowa Motion Picture Association recently awarded a film directed by student Geoff Boothby top honors in the college division.

The 22-minute film, titled 'We Are Theo,' is a mock-heroic epic of a passionate but indecisive university student.... Along the way he receives ... advice ... but ends up making his own decision.

The film, produced during the sequence of courses offered in the new minor in communications and media, won the Award of Excellence, given to the top film among those selected as the best entries in their class.

It stars Steve Pappin, a young actor who grew up in Fairfield, Kelsey Hallen, a Maharishi University of Management student, and Andy MacKenzie, a long-time member of the Fairfield and University communities. The cast of 30 includes Geoff's father, faculty member Sam Boothby, who makes a cameo appearance in the film.

The film was shown at the awards event in Des Moines on May 4 along with other student films. It subsequently premiered in Fairfield and on campus. It is available on DVD from Mr. Boothby. Proceeds from the DVD and initial showing in Fairfield will help cover expenses, including the cost of submitting it to additional competitions.

The film is based on a story by Mr. Boothby, and the script was coauthored by his classmate Cullen Thomas, who was also the director of photography and the film editor. Jon Cohen was the producer, and Donna Schill assistant producer. Jaime Thatcher was art director. Mr. Boothby did the sound editing. And many other volunteers helped out.

Mr. Boothby credits his course work at the University for contributing to the success of the film. He's been making movies since high school and even took a course at the New York Film Academy. But he credits professor Stuart Tanner's narrative course as being THE course students should take if interested in making movies. Mr. Tanner, a veteran BBC filmmaker, taught the students the basics of a good story. 'We learned how to do the story the right way,' Mr. Boothby said.

Mr. Boothby's film and other student projects were shown on campus on May 20. In addition to the course on narrative, the students had a sequence of two courses in documentary film production. The films of the other students included three documentaries, a mockumentary, and some shorter films.

The students used the art department's new high-definition video cameras, Macintosh computers, and Final Cut Pro software to make theirmovies.

Copyright © 2007, Maharishi University of Management

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