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Roadrunner Student Short Film Festival – Take Four

05/08/23

Dalton State College is hosting its fourth Roadrunner Student Short Film Festival, showcasing works submitted by college students from Georgia and Tennessee. The event is on Tuesday, May 9, at 6 p.m. in the Goodroe Auditorium on campus. It is free and open to the public.

“This is an excellent opportunity for young filmmakers in the region to attend and network with other creators in this field,” said Barbara Tucker, chair of the department of communication, performing arts and foreign languages at Dalton State.

There are four categories: short narrative film, short documentary/promotional film, feature length screenplay and short narrative screenplay. This year, all eligible films will be shown; they range in length from five to ten minutes. Each filmmaker will comment on his or her work after the screening and take questions. Students who submitted screenplays will talk about their work. 

Students can place in the top three in each category, and winners receive between $200 and $500 dollars in cash awards.

The festival’s benefactor, Jeff Burr, a filmmaker living in Dalton, will attend the festival and speak to attendees.

“We started the festival in 2020 to give Dalton State students an opportunity to show their skills in film and writing,” Tucker said. “Thanks to Mr. Burr’s generosity, we have been able to expand it to other colleges in Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee.  This year ten institutions are represented.”

Dalton State offers film studies through its Department of Communication, Performing Arts and Foreign Languages. Students can earn an Associate of Arts in General Studies with a Film Pathway or a Bachelor of Arts in Communication with a Film Concentration. In both cases, students earn at least 18 hours of credits (three six-hour courses) at the Georgia Film Academy (GFA) in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Currently the GFA has two locations, one near Trilith Studio in Fayetteville and the other in Norcross.  

Dalton State also offers a course in Introduction to Screenwriting, taught by Mr. Ryan Reece, and Introduction to Video Production, along with film theory and criticism courses.

For more information, contact btucker@daltonstate.edu, 706-272-4411.