Two Wisconsin brothers roll a bus into town tonight to screen the winning flicks at the first-ever Student Films Across America tour. The traveling fest is the brainchild of 19-year-old Steven Amos and his 21-year-old sibling Brian. The two created a contest to showcase a new generation of filmmakers, and their call for entries last year attracted 600 shorts from more than a dozen countries. “Any 15-year-old can write, shoot, and edit a film on his own these days,” says Steven.
During this summer’s 50-city tour, the brothers will screen such entries as Pop Foul (about a street thug who attacks a man while the guy’s son watches), Checkout (a comedy about a ninja assassin who takes a job as a supermarket stock boy), and the small-town-hero doc The American Glorification of Unique Personalities or David Andrews Is Just a Normal Guy. “We’re getting rid of the image that student filmmakers with big egos make dark movies that are amateurish,” says Steven. “You can make great films with low budgets if you have a fantastic story to tell.”
Thu., June 21, 7 p.m.
This article appears in Jun 20-26, 2007.