 Boston College students gathered Friday night to showcase their achievement in film.
| |
As students were filing up to the second floor of Corcoran Commons to attend the third-annual Baldwin Awards, the night was showing infinite promise. A red carpet stretched out the front door of the dining hall, accentuated by two footlights that pierced the sky ( surely mystifying to drunken Boston College students miles away). A line extended out of the Heights Room entrance, where fellow nominees chattered and assured their fellow rivals. Their mouths said "it's gonna happen," but their eyes said "yeah, right." The talented BC filmmaking community, in all of its eagerness and zeal, was ready to arouse both envy and awe in its audience.
All the nominees gathered into individual groups, chatting about their movies, life, or possibly both. Popcorn and soda were available on the left side of the venue; across the room, and a band played enthusiastically to accompany the cheery din pervading the room. Marking the right of the stage was a table covered with the coveted Baldwin Awards, numerous and lined with military precision, looking ready to be deployed into the hands of eager winners. The audience was a mass of suits, dresses, sunglasses, gelled hair, and smiles. It hardly mattered that the front row was sans Jack Nicholson with his shark grin and sunglasses. It hardly matters that the celebrities were absent - the enthusiasm was there, and that was all that mattered.
As the non-celebrity audience opened their programs, one title instantly stood out - The Tarantino Experience, a nominee for best film editing. Few film directors in Hollywood contain as much a love, zest, and zeal for cinema as Quentin Tarantino, and that same enthusiasm pervaded the Heights Room as the awards show began - the students, busily chatting away about film, buzzed with the same excitement. One of these young filmmakers could go on to share their love of cinema with others - and perhaps their impending acceptance speeches would not be their last.
Daniel DeStefano, A&S '07, could be that person, as he has been nominated for a Baldwin an unprecedented 11 times. The host, Michael Civille, a professor in the fine arts department, likened him to Martin Scorsese. When DeStefano became a winner for the first time with the Lifetime Achievement Award, his acceptance speech became a hilarious spoof of Scorsese's acceptance speech for The Departed. A montage of his short films was shown, and the obvious inspiration, David Lynch, instantly jumped out into the audience as they were entertained and enthralled by the strange images (shot in either black-and-white or in color) that marked the screen. Like Lynch, the incomparable maverick behind Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks, DeStefano is both a filmmaker and a true artist - and perhaps in the quiet community of a Catholic liberal arts college, like in the quiet suburbs of Missoula, Mont.,, the next David Lynch has been born.
Or perhaps that person is Matt Porter, A&S '09, the winner for best documentary (American Voices) and a dedicated drama major. As he waited for his award, he was flanked by his friends and family. His excitement, inspiration, and dedication to film seemed to brush off on them, and when he won the award, they could not contain themselves. As this inspiration brushed off on all in attendance, one could only hope that these talented students would share their love of cinema long after they leave BC.
