Biola students win in Apple's Insomnia Film Fest

Eight Biola students produced a 3-minute film that won Apple's nationwide Insomnia Film Fest competition. L-R: Ian Perry, Josiah Bultema, Ben Sellick, Andrew Fisher, Jeff Webster, John Carter Raines, Heather Montanez and Laura Falcinelli.

Kelsey Heng

Eight Biola cinema students can sleep easy since they discovered Monday that their 3-minute film, “My Suburban Tea,” won Apple’s Insomnia Film Festival. The film was chosen from over 1,900 submissions as this year’s Slingjam Creative Award winner.

Apple’s Insomnia Film Festival is a 24-hour challenge to script, cast, produce, score, and edit a 3-minute film. At 6 a.m. on Oct. 13, when Apple announced a set of ten items and film elements (three of which must be included in the film), a 24-hour rush began.

As Apple’s second year of holding the Insomnia Festival, it is also Biola’s second year entering. While only one submission was entered last year, Biola students submitted four separate films to Apple this year.

“My Suburban Tea” was chosen as one of three winners in the international contest, which is open to high school and college students.

“We were thankfully surprised for our achievement,” said crew member Josiah Bultema, a junior.

According to the film’s crew, the idea of winning was never really a consideration during production.

“At that point we never even expected to get into even the top 25,” said crew member Andrew Fisher. It was only after being selected as one of the 25 finalists that they realized they had a chance of winning.

The Slingjam Creative Award is judged for the creativity of both the storyline and art direction, rather than the technical production aspects of the entry.

As the creative award winners, the group earned an Apple Store screening of their film, a featured podcast found at the iTunes Music Store, and a video iChat with Harry Potter film producer David Barron.

Those of who helped produce the film are Andrew Fisher, Ben Sellick, Josiah Bultema, Laura Falcinelli, Jeff Webster, Ian Perry, John Carter Raines, and Heather Montanez.

For more on Insomnia, see the Nov. 29 edition of The Chimes.