Official selections for the 16th Annual Berkeley Video and Film Festival (BVFF) were recently announced, and – incredibly -- five documentaries from San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking (SFSDF) students were among the selections. Stories from summer workshop documentary filmmakers Chet Patterson, Dawn Green, Michael Cho, Marlene Siniki and Ephantus Njenga will be shown at the prestigious and competitive festival, to be screened October 5th, 6th and 7th in the Landmark's California Theatre at 2113 Kittredge St. in downtown Berkeley.
Mel Vapour, Director of BVFF, called this year's entries "extremely competitive," and noted that student films were going up against some of the top film schools in the country, including NYU and UCLA. Vapour called the quality of this year's student productions "extremely high," saying the festival received "great works from many students."
Over 200 entries from around the world were submitted to the competitive festival this year, which got whittled down to just over 60 official selections. Of those, only ten student films were selected to be screened at BVFF, and just five of those are documentaries – the five from SFSDF students.
"I'm amazed," said Chet Patterson, author of LANESPLITTING, a documentary that explores some of the controversy behind motorcycles that split lanes in congested traffic. You can visit his website at http://www.echet.com
"It's a huge honor to be selected, and to have so many entries from my fellow classmates included in this festival is just incredible," Patterson said.
Also featured at this year's BVFF will be Dawn Green's IMPROVED ODDS, about a recently-married couple who find themselves faced with new challenges when husband Matt becomes paralyzed as a result of a Christmas Day 2004 skiing accident, and Michael Cho's PAUL WADE: THIRD STREET GYM, a portrait of Golden Glove winner Paul Wade's quest to once again make San Francisco a boxing powerhouse.
Additionally, the festival will screen Marlene Siniki's WORLD WITHIN WORLDS, about artist Neil Seth Levine, whose art transforms some of nature's tiniest and most beautiful artifacts into larger-than-life visions, and Ehpantus Njenga's SAN FRANCISCO IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER, an exploration of a homeless woman's bitter expreriences in San Francisco's Dogpatch District.
BVFF Director Mel Vapour plans to screen all five selected SFSDF documentaries as a group, and said he hopes to see additional submissions from the school's students in next year's festival.
"I found the quality of this year's student submissions extremely high," said Vapour.
For complete information about the BVFF festival, including the screening schedule when it becomes available, see http://berkeleyvideofilmfest.org/.
For more info, please visit http://www.SFDigiFilm.com
