Award-winning UVU student film gets campus premiere

Lee Thomas | Staff Writer | @leenis85

 

After a lengthy production schedule and a recent slew of awards, student short film “47 Minutes,” directed by UVU digital media/film production student Austin Wilson, will be screened on campus. The Ragan Theater in the Sorenson Student Center will host a free screening at noon on March 17.

Based on a play about the lives of three strangers and a defining moment that unites them, the 20-minute film was completed in November 2014. Since then the film was chosen as an Official Selection at the Student Filmmaker Awards, won Award of Excellence at the Indie Fest, was nominated in seven categories at the Filmed in Utah Awards, and screened at the Independent Filmmaker’s Lounge during Sundance 2015.

Made on a shoestring budget of $15,000, with the help of volunteers, donated equipment and 50 UVU students, the production included building the set of an airplane and three days of shooting in New York City.

“UVU’s film program is all about engaged learning,” said Dennis Lisonbee, digital media associate professor, in a press release. “Practical application of the foundational skills we teach is critical. Students wrote, pitched, packaged, shot, edited and completed ’47 Minutes’ on their own initiative. They took what they learned in their years of schooling and applied it into this final project — a project that has already landed members of the group in professional positions in the local film industry.”

The screening is open to the public.