A University of Wisconsin-Stout student garnered the audience award for best narrative short film at the Eau Claire World Film Festival.
Lukas Medin’s film “Shots” was shown Nov. 9 at the Pablo Center as part of the festival. The film tied for the award with “The Night Mares,” a comedy from Twin Cities filmmakers Tyler Perry and Michael Mazzitelli.
Medin, a senior video production major from Woodbury, Minn., said the film is a revenge thriller. “It’s very difficult to say much about it without giving away the plot because there are so many twists and turns in it,” Medin said.
The film is about a man grieving his sorrows away in a bar, where events take place that reveal his true nature.
The film is 5 minutes, 40 seconds long. It was filmed in Medin’s apartment and in Lake Elmo, Minn.
Medin did the project for his UW-Stout Honors College contract. He wrote the script, cast it and did the lighting, filming and editing.
“I’m a bit overwhelmed,” Medin said of receiving the award. “I thought we would have a shot at the best short student film but not the best narrative short.”
Actors in the film include UW-Stout students Aidan Gruber, a senior game design and development major from Medina, Minn.; Maisie Cramer, a junior business administration major from Marshfield; and Fred Bergholz, of Neenah, a senior studying criminal justice and rehabilitation. Stone Weidner, of Afton, Minn., is also in the film.
As part of the award, Medin can use a laurel to promote the film, signifying that it won the award.
Keif Oss, UW-Stout senior lecturer in video production, was Medin’s mentor for the project.
“Lukas is an example of the kind of self-motivated, career-focused student that UW-Stout strives to foster,” Oss said. “He learns by doing. He is not satisfied with ‘good enough’ and strives to create with quality and discipline. In my opinion, this exemplifies the mentality of Bachelor of Science video production program and UW-Stout's tenets as a polytechnic university.”
Receiving such an award is incredibly validating for a student, Oss said.
“An award will likely bring a level of recognition to Lukas' abilities that gives him a competitive advantage over peers in the field who have not pursued or acquired such recognition,” he said. “Beyond that face value, this project was personal to Lukas. He was able to make something he cared to create, expressed through his approach in crafting the film. That's important too.”
Medin plans to enter the film in the second annual Red Cedar Film Festival in Menomonie July 30 to Aug. 2, 2020. This year 30 films were shown at the Mabel Tainter Center for the Arts and at Wilson Park. The festival is co-sponsored by the Mabel Tainter and UW-Stout.
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