Arts | 4/13/08

Media Credit: Kris Marsh

To help raise awareness of female and minority producers of film, the department of electronic media and film hosted their first annual Women and Minorities in Media Festival, or WAMMFest, Saturday in the Center for the Arts Main Stage Theatre.

EMF department members Jennifer Lackey, Michael Angelella and Elsa Lankford coordinated the festival.

"WAMMFest was intended to celebrate diversity in media," Lankford said.

She also said that the festival was aimed at celebrating media education as well as the profession itself.

The event featured student works in film and in audio production. Most of the pieces shown during the student screenings were from EMF majors, but some pieces from Baltimore City high schools were showcased through the Follow Your Dreams studio.

"[Women and minorities] are an underrepresented group in this field," Lackey said. "It is important to create a special venue just for them."

Students who attended the event expressed their appreciation for the work of their peers.

"I was really excited to see the different student works," sophomore Norah Quinn said.

During the second part of the event guest speaker Catherine Pancake, a filmmaker and musician, presented her 90-minute documentary "Black Diamonds."

The film spoke out about the lengths that corporations, the government, and consumers are willing to go for the sake of energy.

Pancake spoke to students on how to be a successful female filmmaker, the difficulties of getting funding for a project and how to distribute a finished work effectively.

"Don't work on what is popular," Pancake stated. "Work on what you are passionate about."

About 100 students attended the WAMMFest.

The staff was pleased with the turnout, as this was the inaugural year for the festival.

"This year was great," Lankford said. "But next years will be bigger. We hope to incorporate even more student films and audio works into next year's festival."

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