By Sam Prevot
Movie posters, hollywood themed decorations and a makeshift red carpet adorned Quinnipiac’s Echlin theater as students and faculty came together to celebrate the 2018 Quinnies, an annual film festival and award show run by the Quinnipiac Film Society. Students submit any film they’ve created, though within the 10 minute maximum limit, and the short is then screened at the event and entered for a prize.
This year’s Quinnies featured 24 films across all genres. Comedies, dramas and documentaries were all represented in the submissions. Two submissions were from this year’s South Africa trip run by professor Liam O’Brien. Another two were from Q30 Television’s comedy show “Quinnipiac Tonight.”
The event also featured catering by Moe’s Southwest Mexican Grill and raffles for Beats headphones, a TV, various gift cards and a year subscription to the Adobe Creative Cloud.
QFS President Connor Carey said the Quinnies is the club’s biggest event of the year and that it takes months to plan. Carey, a senior along with rest of the QFS Executive Board, was pleased with the turnout at the event and sees a bright future for the club.
“It shows a good emphasis on our film program and a lot of interest in the film society,” Carey said. “We had some underclassmen win and seniors win Quinnies, so as long as freshmen keep staying involved like they are I think we’ll definitely be good for the future.”
Professors Becky Abbott, Philip Cunningham and Fritz Staudmyer were the official judges for the event and decided who won awards such as: Best Editing, Best Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture.
The Best Picture of the day went to Matt Kravitsky for his film “The Better Man.” This is the third year in a row that Kravitsky has won the award. He filmed “The Better Man” while in Los Angeles for the QU in LA program. He said he faced many obstacles while filming his short.
“We only had one day to shoot it,” Kravitsky said. “We were shooting at Joshua Tree National Park, which is illegal … and we didn’t get a permit … We got in trouble by a park ranger who said if we didn’t get out in 15 minutes he’d see us in court. But I’m really happy with how it came out, and it was definitely worth it.”
The two films that stole the show nearly tied for the Fan Favorite award at the end of the afternoon. “On Time,” submitted by Bret Schneider, is a comedy about a man running late for an appointment set to well-known songs. While “Tenacity,” submitted by Zack Carlascio, is a dramatic film about a man who lost his wife in a car accident and has trouble coping with the loss. Tenacity won Fan Favorite by a single vote.
Kravitsky, who has spent four years in QFS, got emotional talking about his experience with the club.
“I don’t want to talk about it I’m going to cry,” he said. “I’ve met all of my best friends and connections at QFS. Now that I’m graduating I’ll probably go to LA and try to make stuff with the people I met in QFS that now live there.”
QFS meets on Wednesdays at 9:15 p.m. in Echlin 101.