CUNUFF touts a new face with full-day student film showcase

CORRECTION APPENDED:

The Columbia University National Undergraduate Film Festival (affectionately known as CUNUFF—that is, “C-U-nuff”) keeps getting bigger and bigger. In the six years since the festival began, it already has become nationally recognized, and over 500 short films have been submitted for competition by students across the country.

But this year’s CUNUFF, which will take place on Saturday in Lerner, shows its growth in more ways than one. The event is now a full-day festival rather than just an evening screening, complete with a workshop, a presentation, and a panel discussion. And, for the first time ever, a foreign language film has made it to the final round.

What makes CUNUFF unique is its focus on student filmmaking. Not only do students make all of the films, but they organize the entire festival.

“Throughout the entire year, we’ve been receiving submissions from undergrads from all over the country,” Vicky Du, co-director of CUNUFF and CC ’11, said. “We narrowed it down to eight finalists, screened for the judges. All the money we receive in submission fees goes back to the filmmakers.”

The judges of the festival select winners in 10 different categories, many of which include cash prizes for the student filmmakers. Columbia students get to participate in the judging, too—the “Concord Award” goes to the film voted by the audience as their choice for best picture. Of course, with the diversity of the finalists, it will be hard to pick a winner. “The variety is amazing,” Yvonne Liu, CUNUFF vice president and CC ’11, said. “It ranges from extremely serious and dark to extremely entertaining.”

The judges of this year’s festival are particularly esteemed. Documentarian Jon Alpert has won three Primetime Emmys, four duPont-Columbia Awards, and a Peabody Award—just to name a few. Alpert’s latest work, “China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province,” received an Academy Award nomination for best documentary short this year. His CUNUFF co-judge Michael Hausman was executive producer for Milos Forman’s “Amadeus” and “The People vs. Larry Flynt,” as well as Ang Lee’s “Brokeback Mountain.” The festival’s final judge, Joan Stein, earned an Oscar nod for her live-action short “One Day Crossing” and has worked with cinema bigwigs Eric Mendelsohn and Woody Allen.

This year’s brand-new afternoon events are a major move for CUNUFF as well. “It’s pretty common for Columbia students to hear producers and directors speak,” Liu said. But the other film professionals to be speaking at CUNUFF are "active in the industry" and it’s "important to hear them speak."

The panel discussion on the use of music in film, television, and advertising—and the presentation on film acquisition and distribution—feature plenty of perks for students: free food free CDs, and speakers from several high-profile companies.

A major reason for CUNUFF’s national recognition is its consistent focus on the individual filmmaker’s spirit—a focus of which the festival’s organizers are very proud. “When it gets down to it, it’s not about getting a good camera or having a fantastic script,” Brandon Wolfeld, CUNUFF co-director and GS, said. “It’s about the passion behind it, and I feel like that’s what we really look for. We still believe in creativity and personality.” The creativity is unchallenged—the finalists even include a stop-motion short, composed entirely without a film camera of any kind.

The way CUNUFF sees it, big budgets and bureaucracy aren’t necessary to make a masterpiece. All that matters is creative inspiration, and a place for your work to be seen. “I truly believe CUNUFF is an awesome group of people, and we just make an amazing showcase of these films—where, otherwise, they wouldn’t get the chance,” Du said. “We’re exposing hundreds of students to what they all can do.”

CORRECTION: The original article quoted 10 finalists, not eight, that actors, not directors would speak, and that free ice cream would be among the free food, when that is not the case. The photo was also incorrectly attributed to an Oberlin College film. Spectator regrets the error.