Cal State Long Beach film students received happy news last week when the department was awarded a $50,000 grant from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
The film and electronic arts department has received the grant for the past three years, serving as a testament to the kind of work that the students produce.
“One of the reasons why the department gets this kind of grant from such a prestigious organization is that our students regularly win prizes and awards when their films are in competitions,” said Michael Pounds, professor and chair of the department. “For a department of our size, we disproportionately win prizes at the Cal State University Media Arts Festival every year.”
The money from the organization will go directly to the students, Pounds said. It will provide financial aid for student-made projects, which include documentaries and narrative films that can span anywhere from five to 30 minutes.
There are about 45 students in the department that will welcome the extra funds as they begin production on their film projects. Receiving the association’s donation plays a large role in alleviating production costs for students.
“It means a lot,” said Pounds. “It means that our advanced production and documentary classes can really give students who are not privileged the ability to make their vision a little bit more flushed, instead of being constrained to a smaller budget. They don’t have all the freedom of a privileged student at a more prestigious university but we are trying to close that gap.”
Students will be able to view some of the department’s work at the Bel-Air Film Festival on Oct. 16 at UCLA. It will be a special event for the CSULB film department this year, as it will be featured in its own special block during one of the biggest days of the festival.
The festival will run five CSULB films, which are not only from the current year, but range over a span of eight years.
The feature is a big deal for the department, said Professor Brian Alan Lane. CSULB will be the only school to have such a privilege at the event.
There is a special ticket price for students who want to attend the event. More information will be available as the festival approaches.
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