CONTACT: Lisa Lacher, 515-271-3119, lisa.lacher@drake.edu
For Drake University junior Steven Amos, it’s time for the wheels – and reels – to start spinning. Amos and his brother, Brian, are co-directors of Student Films Across America, a new international student film festival with 50 appearances in the United States and Canada. They plan to hit the road after a preview show in their hometown of Sturgeon Bay, Wis., on June 6, and bring the show to a different major city almost every day until its final date in Los Angeles two months later.
A panel of big-name judges, including Drake grads John August (screenwriter, “Big Fish,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “The Corpse Bride”) and Michael Emerson (actor, the hit TV show “Lost”), helped the Amos brothers choose the best comedy, drama and documentary from more than 600 original submissions. The festival awarded $35,000 in prizes, including a $5,000 theme song contest prize.
The three winning films provide the foundation for each stop on the tour. The rest of the lineup is customized with the showing of a local filmmaker’s submission and local music performance in each city.
Student Films Across America stops in Des Moines at 7 p.m. Monday, June 11, at Fleur Cinema, 4545 Fleur Drive. Tickets are $10. Local emo rockers “Beside Nothing” – including Drake student Josh Tomme on vocals – will perform. “Somos Las Bolas,” directed by University of Iowa sophomore Andrew Edmark, is the featured film. It is a story of “friendship, love and table tennis.”
Amos said the festival appearance in Des Moines will be like a second homecoming show along the tour.
“We are going to be spending so many days on the road without knowing anyone at the screenings that the Des Moines show will be like a Drake reunion,” said Amos, an entrepreneurial management major. “Sometime’s it’s hard to get students together during the summer, so we hope the screening can prove to be an outlet for that.”
For more information on Student Films Across America, visit http://studentfilmsacrossamerica.com/.