Yes…
to frolicking in various oceans during Spring Break.
No…
to being so worn out by Spring Break that you can no longer function.
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Next fall’s enrollment numbers are still murky, according to admissions. BY COLIN STAYTON
The cast and crew of “Fountain of Youth” pose together at the Tivoli awards ceremony
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The excitement was palpable at the Bijou Theatre last Thursday as students piled in to watch the work of their fellow students finally hit the big screen. With its tremendous initial success, hopes are high that the first annual Broad Street Film Festival will see a second year.
The collective effort of Covenant and Bryan College, the Broad Street Film Festival boasted a number of original student films shown for the economical price of $3 a ticket. But next year’s return will require that both schools have the resources, funds, and academic backing to produce another set of awardable student films. This is, so far, only true of Bryan. The festival was a success because it marked the beginnings of integration between the filmmaking of Covenant and Bryan students. If it becomes a tradition, it is possible and certainly desirable that Broad Street will become less about Covenant films versus Bryan films and more about good films versus bad films. As it is, the Broad Street Film Festival revealed a clear incongruity between the two schools’ aesthetic values. Despite the schmaltzy acoustic guitar, poor sound editing, and self-aware actors, many of the Bryan films had a noble goal in mind, which was, presumably, to frame the average 20-something’s experience according to a moral code. However, they often landed in the realm of “moralizing,” which at best amused us and at worst made us cringe. “My Brother’s Keeper,” a contrived retelling of Cain and Abel through a modern day fratricidal thriller, left us with a confusing baptism scene and indifference as to what it meant. Most cringe-worthy, perhaps, was “Give Me a Break!”, whose title predicted the audience’s response with uncanny accuracy. Some notable exceptions included “A Pistol In Hand,” which refrained from moralizing and so saved itself from being too heavy-handed. It also boasted slick production and good pacing, even though the plot made little sense. The most successful Bryan film was “You Dropped Your Quarter,” which won the award for Best Short Term Narrative. Its director, Colton Davies, clearly understood the film’s limits and worked within them to create a film that satisfied every goal it set out to accomplish. On Covenant’s end, Asher Warren won Best Foreign Film for his excellent “Der Zaun,” a slice-of-life short set in Berlin in 1989 which proved that a true-to-life story often provides its own gravitas when you simply tell it. The clear winner of the night, and winner for Best Long Term Narrative, was “Fountain of Youth,” the brainchild of Orson Welles brought to life by Grant Withington, Drew Belz and Isaiah Smallman. With a crack cast of actors, timely photomontages, and the charisma of narrator Max Belz, “Fountain of Youth” displayed an intuitive knowledge of the cinematic language. Following Welles’ original script also freed the directors from indulgent voiceovers, an unfortunate recurrence in Bryan films. What most set “Fountain of Youth” apart from the other films was its treatment of the “Christian aesthetic.” Rather than trying to juggle their Christian values with their craft, Withington, Belz and Smallman simply followed in the footsteps of a great filmmaker. They let the quality of the work testify to their convictions instead of squeezing their faith into the cracks of an ill-conceived plot. Despite having less formal training and fewer resources, Thursday night’s showings left the distinct impression that Covenant outshined Bryan. The question is where to go from here. As Dr. Foreman wrote in his recent post on the Wittenberg Floor, the film festival “marks another step in our college’s entry into visual, digital culture.” The movie screen is our generation’s canvas. As the premiere artistic medium, both students and the academic powers-that-be ought to begin intentionally investing in student filmmaking. According to Professor Hallstrom, they are. In her own Wittenberg Floor post, Dr. Hallstrom noted that considerable effort has been poured into bringing folks like casting director Michael Stark and filmmaker Zena Dell Lowe to campus to teach screen acting and writing. “The newly formed department of Theatre & Film Studies is currently looking at ways to develop a film concentration or minor as well,” Hallstrom wrote, “But all that takes money and personnel, neither of which is in overabundant supply these days.” As it stands, Covenant has a roughly equal number of Covenant theatre graduates working in professional film and broadcast media as are involved in professional theatre. Dr. Hallstrom encourages students who are interested in film to take theatre classes while a film concentration is still in the works. Bolstering film studies opportunities at Covenant may not seem viable in the current economic pinch, but the Broad Street Film Festival simply isn’t a sustainable endeavor for Covenant if the films are purely extracurricular. “Fountain of Youth” required over a week of full-time shooting and months in post-production—none of it for academic credit. If Covenant’s young filmmakers are to expand and refine their output in the future, their efforts will need school funding and faculty training. If teachers and students can share the same resolve, Covenant’s foray into visual media is imminent. As the school year draws to a close, big changes are headed Covenant’s way. Rightsizing initiatives and other key components of the strategic plan are set to be effected in May. Some very hard discussions have been held of late among administration, faculty and staff. 
Thanks to the CSC, you’ll soon have a new way to get rid of an old Bagpipe.
Burden on students, Senate to make program succeedCovenant’s campus may officially be “going green.” In early April, Student Senate approved a new student committee, the Campus Stewardship Committee (CSC). After eighteen months of setbacks and trial runs, the committee was finally approved as part of Covenant’s developing recycling program. BY REBECCA NEWMAN
Say goodbye to The Gallery for at least a year A few days after Covenant College posted its fall of 2009 Resident Assistant list in early March, rumors began swirling in Founders Hall about the conspicuous lack of a fifth female RA in the building, suggesting that one of the girl halls there would be closing. It wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago that Deans Brad Voyles and Emily Ford confirmed these suspicions and announced the closing of Gallery, as well as of 3rd and 4th South in Carter Hall. Voyles and Ford wrote a letter to the three halls attributing the reason for the temporary closing to “preventive maintenance,” saying that these halls are in need of refresher renovations. Gallery, in particular, is in desperate need of new carpet, said Meredith Hall, the RA of Gallery for the past two years. According to Facilities Services, this kind of amenity is difficult to replace in an inhabited hall. Jordan Harwood, RA of 3rd South, also said her hall could use many repairs, mentioning that her girls frequently have no heat or hot water. The original BUILD campaign to renovate Carter called for the shifting of the displaced Carter halls to Andreas. Funds raised for the next BUILD phase, however, were not adequate, so only key repairs will be made at present, and only in the south halls. Enrollment is also an important factor in the hall closings. Enrollment numbers are dropping at Covenant and there are already many half-empty halls on campus. Hopes are that dispersed residents from the halls will be able to fill in gaps elsewhere on campus. “Obviously, if enrollment was sky-high, we wouldn’t be able to do this,” said Ford. 3rd South is being encouraged to move to 5th South, where hall member Brittany Luther will be RA next year. Harwood will likewise be RA on 4th Central, and 4th South residents have been offered the option of following her there. “We didn’t want [the halls being shut down] to affect community,” said Ford. Residents of the three closing halls will consequently have “first dibs” on rooming for next year, according to Voyles. “They are displaced, so we are going to do what we can to make things easier,” he said. The displaced girls can sign up after squatters, but before freshmen. The housing department is also making special considerations for the residents currently in 4-person rooms who want to stay in the same arrangement, even offering sleep/study options at the same price on new halls. Hall sees the fact that this change will make the remaining halls fuller as a definite benefit. “The emptiness of the hall can be depressing,” she noted. But she and other girls on Gallery are hardly ecstatic. While Hall is a senior and will not be returning next year, several of her fellow Gallery residents are juniors and have never lived anywhere else at Covenant. Samantha Berg and her roommate Megan Davis are both juniors on Gallery who are considering moving to the apartments next year. “It would be awkward moving to a new hall as seniors and having to adjust to a new hall identity,” said Berg. Hall says that most of the Gallery residents are moving to various halls in Founders. Whether Gallery and 3rd and 4th South residents can expect to return to their halls next year remains to be seen. There is no set deadline on renovations, and enrollment numbers could be substantially higher next year. “The level and scope of maintenance and/or repairs in the unoccupied area has not been determined,” said David Northcutt, director of Facilities Management & Planning. “It’s hard to say how long it will take,” agreed Voyles. What is certain is that the college will save a good bit of money having three fewer halls on campus to maintain. The strategic planning resulting in the closing of the two South halls and Gallery will result in less cash going towards utilities and cut down on unused space on the halls. “It’s not ideal,” said Voyles, “But necessary nonetheless.” |
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