Festival Fosters Ivy League Creativity

A spirit of community pervaded Brown University’s fifth annual Ivy Film Festival, which concluded its five-day run last Sunday. From the welcome packet complete with badge to the many events held in the student filmmakers’ honor, the festival was first and foremost a way for student directors—who came from schools around the United States and Europe—to connect with and see each others’ work.

Not that the audience was restricted to the featured artists. Nearly 2000 people attended the festival’s events, which included several screenings of student films, as well as discussions with professional filmmakers such as Michael Showalter, who co-wrote and acted in “Wet Hot American Summer” and Lisa Gossels, director of “The Children of Chabannes,” one of the features screened.

“It was nice to see a lot of films that were at Sundance that I wouldn’t have been able to see otherwise,” said Oliver A. Horovitz ’08. “It really felt like the right place to be,” he said about his second trip to the Ivy Film Festival.

While technical difficulties plagued his and others’ screenings last year, this year’s went off without a hitch. Horovitz’s documentary “The 12:30 Group,” about a group of elderly golfers who are local legends in Rockport, Mass., was originally made for Professor of the Practice of Filmmaking, Ross McElwee’s non-fiction video course. The short was one of several films by Harvard students that screened during the festival.

Other Harvard films included “Cut Short,” a drama about fate and haircuts directed by Akis P. Konstantakopoulos ’06, the animated “Pom” by Grace C. Laubacher ’09, “Ted the Prophet,” an animated story of prophecy by Shai Davis ’06, and “Well-Fed and Comfortable,” a family drama by alumnus Richard L. “Lou” Howe ’05.

Despite the convivial atmosphere, the festival was also competitive, with awards handed out for achievement in several different genres, as well as for best screenplay, best directing, audience favorite, and “most original voice.” The biggest winners (none of Harvard’s entries took home awards) were University of Pennsylvania’s Andrea Scott, who won both Best Short Screenplay and Most Original Voice for her “The Infamous Gabi Garcia.” Daniel Falcone from Columbia’s film school, whose “Night Swimming” tells the story of two young punks on a cross-country road trip, won Best Film School Production and Best Director.

The best part of being a filmmaker at the Ivy Film Festival, though, is the perks. Between the meals for directors, the free gear, and the parties, it seems the filmmakers get treated very well. No wonder Horovitz came back for a second helping.

—Staff writer Elisabeth J. Bloomberg can be reached at bloomber@fas.harvard.edu.