The Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center annually conducts the preliminary judging for the internationally acclaimed Telluride Film Festival’s Filmmakers of Tomorrow program. Student filmmakers worldwide compete to have their films included in this prestigious festival. For more information and entry forms visit www.telluridefilmfestival.com. The Telluride Film Festival is presented each Labor Day Weekend in Telluride, Colorado. Since its beginning in 1974, people have traveled from around the world to this international educational event celebrating the art of film. The Telluride Film Festival is a sympathetic gathering of film aficionados (both lovers and creators of cinema) who come together from all walks of life to see and discuss and celebrate the most interesting work of the past, present, and future. Telluride is not a series of screenings for the press, nor is it a film market. It is a small, friendly festival, regarded by many as one of the most unique events in the world of film. As the history of filmmaking enters its second century, Telluride is helping nurture the talents of the future through a number of popular and influential programs which provide participants with the opportunity to immerse themselves in the best of film and to enjoy free-wheeling exchanges with prominent filmmakers. There are three programs for high school and college students to participate in the Telluride Film Festival. The Student Symposium provides college undergraduate and graduate students with a weekend of film and discussion. The City Lights Project focuses on introducing a small group of high school students to the Festival in a study schedule similar to that of the Student Symposium. The success of the Student Symposium program spurred Festival directors to offer a program showcasing the contributions of student filmmakers. Filmmakers of Tomorrow, consisting of three separate programs (Calling Cards, Student Prints and Great Expectations,) highlights short films by film students and emerging film artists.

For over twenty-five years, the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center has participated in the preliminary judging for the Student Academy Awards. The Student Academy Awards is a national competition conducted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Academy Foundation. Each year over 300 college and university film students from all over the United States compete for awards and cash grants, with films being judged in four categories: animation, documentary, narrative and alternative. An outstanding student filmmaker from outside the U. S. is honored each year as well. The presentation ceremony is a popular event that is annually attended by a capacity audience in the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater located at its headquarters in Beverly Hills, California. The Academy is the organization famous for the annual Oscar awards. The purpose of the Student Academy Awards competition is to support and encourage filmmakers with no previous professional experience who are enrolled in accredited colleges and universities located throughout the United States. For purposes of this competition, the United States has been divided into three regions, and our region is called Region Two. The winning films are sent on to the Academy to compete against entries from the other the regions in the United States. The final judging for the national winners is done exclusively by members of the Academy, the same body of voters who decide the winners of the annual Oscar awards. Through the Student Academy Awards, the Academy recognizes and encourages this country's most promising new filmmakers. Past winners include Spike Lee, Gary Nadeau, Bob Saget, Trey Parker and Oscar winners John Lasseter and Robert Zemeckis. For more information and to download the entry form visit http://www.oscars.org/saa/2008/index.html.