“The Ferris Video Festival is an event for students and professionals to find out more about the television, film, and video industries,” said Ferris Media Communication Association secretary and FSU junior in television and digital media productions Alex Purdy. “All attendees will gain a better knowledge of the industries.”
Fred Wyman, organizer of the event in conjunction with the Media Communications Association said this will be the tenth year of the Ferris Video Festival.
“This year the event will include the Thursday night screening and a keynote presentation on Friday followed by concurrent break-out sessions,” said Wyman.
The film, which is written, produced and directed by former Ferris television production graduate Jon Rosten, is about “a young drug dealer living the wild life in upscale West LA search[ing] for enlightenment and a path out of his very dangerous world,” according to IMDB.com.
Rosten, who currently works for Warner Brothers in Hollywood, won three awards at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival for his movie.
On Friday, Rosten will be speaking in BUS 111 from 10 to 10:50 a.m. His keynote speech is entitled “Becoming an Indie Film Producer.” He will document his journey in the television and film industries since he left Ferris for California. His speech is highly recommended for anyone intending on a career in film or video and those studying film.
The break-out sessions taking place after the keynote speech cover topics such as producing for TV networks, freelancing for reality shows, west Michigan film production, and advanced after-effects. Some of the speakers include Kevin Leeser, TVP graduate; Lale “Lolly” Arpaci, Hollywood producer; and Rick Hert from the West Michigan Film Office, among others.
The events of the festival, which are all free, will take place on April 22 and 23 in the Business Building and the IRC. For more information, contact Fred Wyman at wymanf@nullferris.edu. For more information about Rosten’s film “Valley of Angels,” check out IMDB.com. n