Kodak Names Student and Faculty Scholarship Awards

[Tim Tyler]

LOS ANGELES, September 16, 2004 - Keun-Pyo Park of the University of Texas at Austin, Christopher Messina of Boston University, and Manijeh Fata of San Francisco State University are winners of the 2004 Eastman Scholarship competition for film students. The Kodak Faculty Scholar award goes to Eugene Martin of Temple University's Film & Media Arts Department. The contest is an annual initiative of the Kodak Student Filmmaker Program.

 

Park won the grand prize of $2,500 for his film Wake. In addition to the cash award applicable toward tuition, Park will be invited to participate in the Kodak Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2005.

 

First place honors were shared by Messina for Melo and Fata for Las Fruteras, earning each of them a scholarship award of $1,250. All three winners will also be invited to participate in a week-long mentorship program sponsored by the International Cinematographers Guild (ICG).

 

"Past Eastman Scholarship winners have told us that the mentorship program provides invaluable insights and contacts with influential filmmakers," says John Mason, director of the Kodak Student Filmmaker Program. "It fits well with the overall goal of our student program to support the next generation of filmmakers."

 

This year's competition drew submissions from 65 schools throughout the United States and Canada. The jury consisted of professional filmmakers and educators including Mildred Lewis of Chapman University; Cheryl Leader, an independent filmmaker and president of InDivision; Jacques Thelemaque, founder and president of Filmmakers Alliance; and cinematographer James Carter, ASC.

 

Judging is based on a sample reel submitted by the students, recommendations from faculty and academic achievements. The sample reel is judged for how effectively the cinematography supports the filmmaker's story.

 

Martin's faculty award consists of a $5,000 production grant for a 20-minute narrative film project, Angel Brothers, that he will produce using a student crew from Temple. Scenes from the project will also be used for class discussions and exercises.

 

"One of my goals as a professor is to be ahead of my students by being an expert in my field. The undertaking of a creative film project such as this will enhance their skills and confidence as they undertake their own film projects," Martin notes.

 

This is the third year that the Kodak Faculty Scholarship award has been presented to a faculty member who demonstrates a high level of production skills, creativity and teaching experience in production. As with the student competition, the blue-ribbon jury consisted of filmmakers and industry professionals who judged more than 20 entries.

 

The Eastman Scholarship and Kodak Faculty Scholar Programs are provided through an endowment fund created by Kodak and administered by the University Film and Video Foundation (UFVF), a non-profit organization whose mission is to advance the study, practice, and preservation of motion picture and video production. Kodak inaugurated the Eastman Scholarship Program in 1991 for undergraduate and graduate students at universities offering degrees in film in the United States and Canada. Nearly a hundred young people have received scholarships since then. The scholarships augment film grants and discount programs provided by the Kodak Student Filmmaker Program to qualified film schools. Kodak also sponsors guest lecturers in addition to providing educational programs and materials.