CCSU student filmmakers recently experienced the creative fulfillment of seeing their ideas come alive and of sharing their visions with others at this year’s Second Annual Kent Film Festival in the Kent Community House. Debuting on March 31 was Daniel Herzog’s Blue Moods, a 30-minute video completed as an independent study last spring. Blue Moods is a documentary about a young man, a friend of the filmmaker, who talks about his childhood memories and his rite of passage moving out of his parents’ house to graduate school. Herzog, a communication major, graduated this past December.

The second film, Cherished, was a joint student project produced during the fall semester. Students Stephen Dexter, Milou Saxton, Alexandra Falco, and Pamela Overson completed the 20-minute fiction film about a gay male couple adopting a baby. The production was done as a combined project for classes on women and film and on advanced television production. Stephen Dexter played one of the two male roles. Cherished was screened on April 1.

According to Dr. Karen Ritzenhoff, associate professor of communication, “the students are very excited that their submissions were selected.” The Kent Film Festival provides a platform for the development and education of artists with an independent vision. The Festival presents thought-provoking films by independent and established film makers, interesting workshops, and lively discussions

In a lovely setting at the foothills of the Berkshires in Kent, CT, the festival this year featured internationally acclaimed actor and local resident Lynn Redgrave, who presented her film The Annihilation of Fish, in which she co-starred with James Earl Jones and Margot Kidder.

Ritzenhoff said Cherished, plus another submission from communication student Crystal Nosal, was also submitted to a conference on “Feminisms” that was held on April 20 and 21 at the University of Hartford.

— Geri Radacsi