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Vol.24, No. 05 October 2, 1998

Columbia Filmmakers Sweep 1998 Awards Given by Director's Guild of America

By Kim Brockway

Columbia filmmakers have been awarded all four prizes in the Directors Guild of America's East Coast Student Film Awards, the first time that filmmakers from a single school have won in all categories.

The winning films will be screened at the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Theatre, 110 W. 57th St., on Wed., Oct. 14 at 6 p.m. The screening is by invitation only; a limited number of seats will be available for the Columbia University community; call 854-1547 to reserve a place.

Lisa Collins was named Best African-American Filmmaker for her film "Tree Shade," Caroline Kava took the Best Female Filmmaker prize for "Number One," Perry Lin won Best Asian American Filmmakers for "17 Years to Earth" and Julia Solomonoff was the Best Latino Filmmaker for "Siesta." The awards carry a cash prize of $2,500.

"The talented students - directors, writers, and producers - graduating from Columbia's Film Division have captured awards at prestigious festivals, brought their feature films to the big screen, and become a vital part of the independent film community," said Lewis Cole, chair of the Film Division at Columbia's School of the Arts. "This new, unprecedented recognition by the DGA and the industry illustrates the undeniable originality and power of the work produced here at Columbia's Film Division." The winners were chosen by the DGA's director members from 24 works submitted by students representing four film training programs on the East Coast.

"The DGA's Student Film Awards are intended to help identify and integrate new ethnic minority and women voices in the film industry," said DGA president Jack Shea. "I'm pleased to be able to showcase these four extremely talented filmmakers as part of the Guild's ongoing commitment to equality of opportunity."