First Languages and Culture Studies Foreign Language Short Film Contest

Look out Academy Awards – the UNC Charlotte Foreign Language Short Film Contest is preparing future award winners! Students of Japanese Professor Chikako Mori and Spanish Professor Maria Mahaffey submitted short animated films ranging from one to two minutes in length in the first Department of Languages and Culture Studies Foreign Language Short Film Contest. As a demonstration of their language proficiency, students developed short video scripts in Japanese or Spanish, recorded themselves speaking. and used the web-based tool Powtoon (www.powtoon.com) to create a film that told a story, introduced a concept or place, or explained a process. The short films were a requirement for a final class project in both courses.

All students were given the option of submitting a short film for the contest and all accepted! Special thanks to the judging panel comprised of the following:

Dr. Sheri Spaine Long – Chair, Department of Languages and Culture Studies
Dr. Fumie Kato, Associate Professor and Coordinator of Japanese
Professor Rodney Stringfellow – Film Studies
Dr. Bobby Hobgood – Director, Language Resource Center, Department of Languages and Culture Studies

The following awards were given during a final ceremony in the Language Resource Center on December 3, 2014 Click the name of the award to view the film.

Grande Prize Winner
Burnell Phillips

Best Use of Japanese Language
Jenny Ortiz

Best Use of Spanish Language
Zachary Cutherbertson

Best Use of Spanish Language
Daniel Araya

Most Creative Japanese Film
Ty Vilchis

Most Creative Spanish Film
Kiara Bell