September 2006  |  Volume 2, Issue 1, Page 5

TuftsFilmWorks introduces Ivory Tusk Awards

TuftsFilmWorks, the ExCollege’s digital filmmaking initiative, had a great year!  Of particular note are two newsworthy items: the Ivory Tusk Awards and the conversion of the Rice Media Center.

The Ivory Tusk Awards.  This past year saw the establishment of the first annual Ivory Tusk Awards, which involved alumni volunteering to be judges in helping us honor the best work by this year’s student filmmakers. To be eligible a film had to be one of the twenty-eight made this year under the auspices of TFW. Sixteen films were submitted, and four of our alums (Jason Wang, Mona Damluji, Allan Rice, and Megan Keifer) selected their three favorite films regardless of genre or length. The final tally was very close, but by May 4th, the evening of the awards ceremony, we had our three winners: Jordan Levie for Fortitude, his adaptation of a Vonnegut screenplay, Kenny Richstad for Vanity Project, a short feature he wrote and produced about the trials and tribulations inside university culture of being a “man,” and Ben Huggins for Bomb Squad, a feature length concert video of a new, award wining band.

The Rice Media Center.  From a technological and, in many ways, creative standpoint, the heart of TuftsFilmWorks is our editing, animation, and multimedia development lab, Halligan 105, which became a named facility in 2004-2005, the Rice Media Center, in recognition of a most generous gift from the Rice family – Fran, Maury, Natalie (J ’99) and Allan (A ’04). The lab is shared and supported by the Multimedia Arts program, and both Computer Science and Electrical Engineering have been very gracious in letting us be their neighbors in Halligan. For many years, the lab has been PC/Windows based. However, as the software used for digital editing, animation, and multimedia design became more sophisticated and the hardware more powerful and more affordable, it became clear that our students would be best served if we could somehow convert the lab from the PC platform to the Apple platform. Someone up there likes us, because Joe Noonan (Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering), stepped forward and offered to a major portion of this conversion. And now we have ten shiny new G5s in place and ready to go some twelve to eighteen months ahead of when we thought we could!

Megan Keifer A'05

New England Premiere of Get On The Limo

In late January, the ExCollege sponsored the New England premiere of Get on the Limo, a film by Megan Keifer (A'05 and an alum of our Making Movies class). Get On The Limo is a mockumentary about the “Billionaires for Bush” political comedy troupe. And members of the “Billionaires” were present in full regalia. In fact, they opened the evening with crowd pleasing new renditions of classic patriotic songs. Following the screening, a debate between Michael Goldman from the Political Science department and Billionaire ringleader 'Monet' gave students new perspectives on the implications of the current Presidential administration.
 
 

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