■ 1
Global film festival visits State College
By Lauren Ingeno
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
What began as a small film festi
val on a street in downtown
Manhattan has grown into a
famous worldwide event.
And this Sunday at the State
Theatre, 130 W College Ave., Penn
State students will have the chance
to be a part of it.
For the third year, State College
will be one of 203 cities across six
continents to host the 12th annual
Manhattan Short Film Festival
the world’s first global film festival.
At the festival, audiences will
watch 10 short films, all less than 15
minutes in length and submitted
from 10 different countries around
the world.
When the films are over; audi
ence members in every viewing
location vote for the winning short
film.
Before the 10 finalists were
Film documents benefits of Artistic Horizons
By Karina Yiicel
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
“Exploring the Arts” a docu
mentary premiering on WPSU
explores the freeing effect art can
have for those with mental disabili
ties
The film aims to raise communi
ty awareness for people with dis
abilities, said Michele Rojas-
Rivera, Class of 1999, an art instruc
tor and the founder of Artistic
Horizons.
Artistic Horizons brings together
individuals who have special needs
and allows them to explore arts like
music, theater and painting, she
said.
“The documentary itself is more
of the awareness of what we are
doing and the importance of bring
ing art to these individuals,” Rojas-
Rivera said. “We are looking to get
more students involved in volun
teering and meeting these inspira
tional artists.”
Often, this community is over
looked and forgotten, Rojas-Rivera
said, but the documentary will
show them in a new light.
If you go
What The Manhattan Short Film
Festival
Where: The State Theatre, 130
W. College Ave
When: 4, 7 and 9:30 p.m.
Sunday
Details: Tickets $6 for students
and seniors, $8 for public
picked, there were 440 entries sub
mitted from 43 countries.
And while the voting is a fun
aspect, Nicholas Mason, the cre
ator of the festival, said the event
has greater implications.
“The same day you’re watching
those films at Penn State, they’re
watching them in Katmandu,”
Mason said.
“When’s the last time you were
connected to something in
The documentary is 30 minutes
long and premieres at 9:30 tonight
on WPSU, Penn State Public
Broadcasting-Channel 3.
It will play again at 6:30 p.m.
Saturday Sept. 25.
Rojas-Rivera and Joshua
Mallory, Class of 2010, put together
the documentary so Rojas-Rivera
would be able to collect donations
for the project.
“We got a grant from the state
and an award from the state so that
we could put this movie together, so
that if someone wanted to donate
money to the program, I wouldn’t
have to tell them about it, I would
be able to show them,” Rojas-
Rivera said.
Rojas-Rivera said she found the
perfect filmmaker in Mallory. At the
time he was a Penn State student
and unbelievably affordable, she
said.
Originally, the film premiered in
December 2009 at the State
Theatre, 130 W College Ave.
Because of a larger than expect
ed attendance, Artistic Horizons
expanded the showings at the rec
ommendation of the State Theatre
Katmandu or Nepal? This isn’t on
the Internet. If you don’t walk into
that cinema on that day, then you’re
not a part of it.”
Mason said the greatest part of
the festival is the human connec
tion of all the audiences across the
world watching the films during the
same week, which is why the short
films will never be posted on the
Internet.
Throughout his life, the films he
saw with a group of people were the
ones he remembered the most,
Mason said.
“When you go see your football
team play in a stadium and when
you watch it on TV that’s a huge dif
ference,” Mason said.
Sam Broscoe, president of the
Student Film Organization, attend
ed the event last year and said that
though the films were submitted
from all over the world, many tack
led issues that were relatable.
“For the most part the films don’t
and contacted WPSU, Rojas-Rivera
said.
Art therapist Rhonda Stern occa
sionally teaches at Artistic Horizon
on Mondays and Tuesdays.
“I think art helps [these individu
als] in many ways,” she said. “I
think one of the biggest things it
does is gives [these individuals] a
way to connect with each other as
artists. It also helps them discover
meaning in life.”
Stem said she recalled a day at
Artistic Horizon when there was
someone who could barely move at
all and who seemed to have made
little progress on the art project
they had been working on all day.
After a while, they made a deci
sion about the art and made a small
change.
Stem remembers how she could
see that the artist felt like they had
accomplished something impor
tant, Stem said.
“I think it’s a privilege to work
with them,” Stem said.
Sam Raasch, president of Penn
State’s Special Olympics club, said
he thinks the documentary Mill be
good for the Penn State community
really conquer huge issues,”
Broscoe (senior-film and video)
said.
“One was about a girl who was
jealous of her cat because her par
ents pay more attention to it than
they do to her. Those are the films I
like best.”
The festival, which began in 1998
on a street in Manhattan, was
moved to Union Square Park and
expanded in 2001 after the 9/11
attacks, Mason said.
“The park became like a shrine.
We put out all these films because
the city asked us to. Then everyone
who was covering Ground Zero
wrote a story about it and people
started submitting a lot more
films,” Mason said.
By 2004, seven states took part in
the festival and by 2005 Europe was
taking part
By then, Mason decided that the
winning film once judged by
famous actors like Susan Sarandon
Courtesy of Michele Rojas-Rivera
Artistic Horizons helps those with special needs through creativity. A new
documentary hopes to shed light on the organization.
to learn about people with disabili
ties.
Just because individuals are dis- sense of worth and accomplish
abled doesn’t mean they shouldn’t ment, he said,
have some social interaction,
Raaseh (senior-biology) said.
should be voted on by the public
viewers.
“It became bigger than us,”
Mason said.
“People took it to a different
dimension.”
State Theatre Marketing
Director Kristy Cyone said she
thinks the festival will continue to
grow and is important to attend.
“It’s really neat to get to partici
pate with a lot of different people
from all over the world,” Cyone
said.
“And it’s really interesting to look
into the future of theatre. A lot of
filmmakers start out with shorts.”
In the last 10 years, at least eight
films from the festival have gone to
the Oscars the next year.
Mason said he urges students to
participate in this global project.
“It’s the stepping stone for the
next generation,” he said.
To e-mail reporter ImisolB@psu.edu
It’s important for everyone to
interact with others and to feel a
To e-mail reporter kzysols@psu.edu