Celebrating achievements in student film

Of all the on-campus events students neglect, the Baldwin Awards screening may be the most unfortunate case. Nowhere else on campus can you get three free hours of on-screen sex, drugs, and collegiate melancholy. You could flick on your cheap dorm television and watch Good Luck Chuck again on the Boston College movie channel. But in the future, you could enjoy the free popcorn and watch the work of your fellow students on the mammoth screen of Devlin 008.

On Thursday night, the film studies program and Boston College Magazine presented the 26 films of the fourth annual Baldwin Awards, a refreshing array of documentaries, comedies, experimental shorts, musicals, and dramas. A few dragged to redundancy and a few milked college humor cliches dry, but the vast majority of the submissions entertained, and a few even inspired. And the screening beat any Thirsty Thursday event or showing of a shoddy comedy on the BC movie channel. Because only 15 students attended the event, here are highlights of the films, broken into the three genre award categories: documentary, drama, and comedy.

Documentary: While only five documentaries were submitted, they filled the greatest chunk of time, combined at almost two hours. Most covered people on campus. In Eat Drink Talk Think: Perspectives from Behind the Counter, students working at the dining halls spilled stories of drunken students stealing mozzarella sticks, puking on tables, and back-talking employees. While it captures the ridiculousness and selfishness of drunken fools and sober snobs, Eat Drink Talk Think drags the message that we should respect the dining hall employees more a bit too long. In a fresh, feel-good short, Matt Porter, A&S '09, reports on the contagious warmth of Free Hug Fridays at Boston College. With interviews from satisfied recipients and the guys who grant the hugs in the Quad each week, along with slow-motion footage of the hugs in action, the five-minute documentary leaves viewers feeling warm without the residue of cheese. Porter presents another intriguing documentary short in View of the Heights: Forty Years Ago, with interviews from graduates of the tumultuous year of 1967. From stories of the administration pulling funds for The Heights for its liberal slant on Vietnam, escalated to tales of guys having to hitchhike each day from Cleveland Circle to campus, the well-researched short captures the local spirit of the times (my pick for best documentary).

The other two documentaries trekked across the globe. Adventures Abroad covers a semester in Australia; although it has stunning shots of landscapes and native animals, the voiceover tends to provide too much bland information. In the 40-minute Indian Healthcare: Right or Privilege?, the extremely well-researched documentary interviews local Indian medical professionals on the need for health care.

Drama: A common thread connects a handful of the dramas: the struggles of relationships. In The Dispatcher and Such is Love, improbable cheating situations stir. In One Minute at Lunch, Process, and You Don't Know What It's Like, the directors lament on the struggles to maintain healthy college relationships. I voted You Don't Know What It's Like for the Viewer's Choice Award. In such a clever and sharp way, through mixing two versions of the song "You Don't Know What It's Like," the director captures how each member of a couple can look back on the same events in opposite lights.

While I enjoyed You Don't Know What It's Like the most, I would pick Guns Don't Kill People for best picture of the year. Guns, booze, drugs, sticks and stones, gallons of blood, and a naked killer with his hands tied at the beach - Stuart Pike's (A&S '10) film could almost fit under the comedy category too, as it riffs on all the action killer movie aspects in such an awesome and over-the-top way. With smooth tracking shots in chase scenes and slick transitions to emphasize traveling, along with a glossy overall picture, Guns Don't Kill People looks like a professional blockbuster and should be in the running for best cinematography and editing. With a throbbing electronic soundtrack, pulsing suspense, and badass gun and punch sound effects, it could also win best sound.

Comedy: Students submitted five comedies, Rough Cut: Bert Baxter, a short on a neurotic RA; American Students Abroad, riffing on American stereotypes; Hello Shovelhead's Da Leahy Code; Robo-Trip: Lonely Cow; and my pick for best comedy: Steve and Eugene. Created by a senior, Steve and Eugene pokes at freshmen who plan their Friday nights to "ride the BC bus for a while, then hit up McElroy late night." Steve and Eugene also peppers random humor: drunk students placing a newborn infant at the RA's door and pictures of Alex Trebek posted across the hall.

But watch for yourself and vote. For the viewer's choice award, you can watch all 26 submissions at www.bc.edu/baldwins. Then on March 28, show up to the awards ceremony.