Reported By: Nathaniel Dulla
The University of Guam will be hosting its 7th Film Festival this semester, featuring films created by students. These films will show the hard work and dedication students have put into filmmaking as well as their creativity.
In recent years, COVID-19 has affected the UOG Film Festival and has pushed it back a few semesters. However, in November of 2020, the 6th Film Festival was held online and was organized and conducted by students in the Communication department. The festival had to be conducted online because of the strict health and safety regulations at the time. With the Film Festival operated online, there were some problems that the team faced.
Muturwan Choay, a student at the University of Guam and a member of the 6th Film Festival team, shares some of the challenges she and her classmates faced as they hosted the event on an online platform.
“Some problems we faced were promoting the virtual event to an audience large enough to the past festivals, and organizing judging criteria and results virtually.”
However, this semester’s 7th Film Festival will be different from the previous one in that it will be held face-to-face. Because the event is face-to-face, it brings another set of challenges as well as opportunities for students running the event.
Chaoy expresses her thoughts on this semester’s film festival being held face-to-face.
“That’s awesome. I plan to participate since I won’t have any films to enter but it’s a great opportunity for Comm students to bond and for the UOG community to come out and support.”
This semester’s Film Festival theme is, “One Step Forward.” Its name stems from the idea that we, as a community, are moving on from the coronavirus pandemic and taking steps towards recovery. The Film Festival aims to display students’ works all while bringing people together in a fun and joyful environment.
The Film Festival is set to take place in the beginning of May 2022. Be on the lookout for more information on the event, either on the UOG website or on the UOG film festival account found on Instagram.
