FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, Oct. 15, 2009
Contact: Dave Wellman, Director of Communications, 304-696-7153
 

Marshall University student wins best student film award at state festival

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – A Marshall University graduate student received the award for best student film at the West Virginia FILMmakers Festival earlier this month in Sutton, W.Va.

David Kendall, a College of Fine Arts graduate student in graphic design and new media from Sissonville, W.Va., won the Best Student Film category with his 15-minute documentary “Weatherology,” produced last spring while he was a student in the Documentary Journalism class at Marshall University. Kendall is a graduate of the W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications with a bachelor’s degree in advertising.

The film tells the behind-the-scenes story of the people who bring the weather to the masses. Its tongue-in-cheek approach made it an audience favorite when it premiered in May on campus during the Reel Time Film Festival sponsored by the documentary class.

“I wish I had been there,” Kendall said. He had planned to attend the festival and bring some young filmmakers he is mentoring, but one of them became ill. “I was shocked, to be honest. There are just a lot of good films made out there by big production crews, and then it was just me, little me from Marshall. I didn’t think that I would even place.”

“I was one of David’s fans before I recruited him into the Documentary Journalism class,” said Nerissa Young, assistant professor in the journalism school and class instructor. “I had seen a 5-minute short he produced about homelessness and was left speechless. David is able to use the multimedia approach of nonfiction film to its fullest capacity, combining excellence in video, audio, editing and research. He was always the last student out the door at the end of class.”

“It was a well-put-together look at inside the newscast,” said Kevin Carpenter, festival director and judge. “It kept your attention and was informative. It looked professional.”

The student category had 10 entries, Carpenter said. The festival’s 10 categories had 30 submissions. All were screened at the festival.

Kendall said, “I’m very proud of all the meteorologists who helped me. Without their words, I wouldn’t have anything.”

In June, Kendall received second place for “Weatherology” in the student filmmaking competition at the West Virginia International Film Festival in Charleston.

Kendall’s next project is a look at boys who grow up without fathers and need a big brother or other male influence in their lives.

The West Virginia FILMmakers Festival is a not-for-profit corporation run in conjunction with the Landmark Studio for the Arts, a 501(c) 3 corporation. The first festival was in 2001.

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