Major film industry figures were in the audience when the Media and Digital Film Production (MEDP) program of Bronx Community College presented its 30th Annual Film and Video Festival last June at the state-of-the-art Directors Guild of America Theater in Manhattan. The 10 five-minute films featured that evening received an encore showing on BCC’s campus October 24, when the student directors returned for a special re-screening event  

Celebrated student-directors included Davon Melendez, winner of the First Place Eastman Kodak award for best direction for My Brother’s Keeper, the story of two young men separated by fate but bound by family; William Neito, the Second Place winner for The Room, a portrait of a veteran still living in the war he left behind; and Third Place winner Maya Dubose, director of One Minute Difference, a study of a young boy struggling with a very grown-up tragedy.  

Winners from previous festivals – where directors, writers and other artists from the world of movies and television serve as judges and hand out lucrative prizes of money, equipment and internships — have gone on to careers in New York City’s thriving film and video industry. “The aspiring artists in BCC’s film and TV program are taught every step in the process of moviemaking, from the first draft of the screenplay to the final cut of the film,” said MEDP Director Jeffrey Wisotsky. “This festival showcases the skills they have developed and the unique visions they have, and we’re excited to be able to share it with everyone on campus.”