Campus MovieFest (CMF) came to Clemson University last week, giving students the opportunity to both learn about and create films, which they can then enter into a yearly film competition. They provided laptops, cameras and movie making software to all students who signed up.
Nik Conklin, the coordinator of digital content for Clemson Athletics as well as the associate director for the Center of Excellence, was a major proponent of bringing the festival to Clemson’s campus.
In 2015, Conklin spoke to former Chief Information Officer (CIO) Jim Bottum, the man who gave the project the go-ahead, after having seen the positive impact that events like these had had at other campuses.
Conklin said that the Center of Excellence, along with Clemson Athletics, was “excited” to host Campus MovieFest this year. “The competition is open to all students, regardless of prior experience or area of study. I’m excited to see these students have the opportunity to express their creativity through the art of filmmaking.”
Each school holds its own red carpet style event, showing each of the winning films from that school. According to their website, winners from each school move on to the Campus MovieFest Grand Finale, an event dedicated to “celebrating the creativity of young filmmakers around the globe.”
Awards presented at the event range from Best Picture, Best Director, Best Story and Best Sound. CMF has also teamed up with The Elfenworks Foundation “to award films with a message about social justice, encouraging students to inspire hope and provoke change through filmmaking.” Winners may even get their films entered into the world renowned Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France.
Clemson University will announce its top four winning movies at the red-carpet finale event on February 23rd.  Winning students will receive a yearlong, post graduation subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud as well as the chance to attend the Campus MovieFest Grand Finale.