Clark College News and Events

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Clark College News and Events


May 20, 2008
For Immediate Release
For additional information: 
Barbara Kerr, Executive Director of Communications and Marketing
Telephone:
360-992-2921
E-mail:  bkerr@clark.edu

CLARK COLLEGE STUDENT WINS THE MTV AUDIENCE AWARD IN THE INTERNATIONAL “FILM YOUR ISSUE” COMPETITION

Clark College student Vasile Dediu will accept the award in Los Angeles
during the “Film Your Issue” 2008 awards celebration on June 6

Clark College student Vasile Dediu has won the “Film Your Issue” MTV Audience Award in the international 2008 “Film Your Issue” competition.  Dediu will accept the award in Los Angeles on June 6.

The Film Your Issue 2008 awards party will be held at Sony Pictures Studio in Culver City, the former MGM studio where “The Wizard of Oz” and other films were shot.  Scheduled guests include Academy award winning actor, author and philanthropist Kirk Douglas; USA TODAY president and publisher Craig Moon; and Bill Maher, host of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher.” 

“Film Your Issue” is an international initiative and competition to engage global young adults 14 to 24 in pressing social issues via the creation of two-minute films on any issues, in partnership with USA TODAY, MySpace, MTV, the United Nations, the Associated Press, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the NAACP, Sony Pictures Entertainment, the Humane Society of the United States, the American Film Institute and other organizations.    The 2008 competition was launched in February at the United Nations.

HeathCliff Rothman, president of “Film Your Issue,” said the “Film Your Issue” editorial team selected Vasile Dediu’s film “The LIFE” as one of 35 semifinalists to be submitted to a panel of judges for the competition’s Jury Prize.  The 2008 jury is led by journalists Tom Brokaw and Walter Cronkite and also includes CNN news anchor Wolf Blitzer, NBC news anchor Brian Williams, the UN Under-Secretary-General, the president of USA TODAY and others. The results of the judging are expected to be unveiled later this week.

Vasile Dediu’s film “The LIFE” is available online at http://think.mtv.com/044FDFFFF009D224F00170098E596/.

“The LIFE” was also elected as one of the semi-finalists for public voting online on MySpace, in the running for the FYI-MySpace Audience Award:   http://www.myspace.com/filmyourissue.  The winner of that competition has not yet been announced.  The winning film will be featured across the MySpace platforms. 

About Vasile Dediu and “The LIFE”

A native of Moldova, Vasile Dediu came to Vancouver, Washington in February 2008 and enrolled at Clark College for spring quarter.  He is currently studying math while majoring in computer science.

Dediu says computer games have had a great influence on his life.  “At the age of 16, I began to find information about computer games. I found out that virtual worlds are created by using 3D graphics applications.”  Dediu studied 3D Studio MAX on his own and, in his words, “understood that 3D animation is a great way to express myself, to create my story.”

At the age of 18, Dediu decided to make a movie, “something I had never seen.”  That 10-minute film was a “Matrix” parody based on the computer game "Counter-Strike," developed by Valve.

Dediu continued his film making efforts, creating 3D scenes for other moviemakers and projects for Alecu Russo State University in Moldova.  The Republic of Moldova is located east of Romania and northwest of Ukraine. 

Dediu read about "Film Your Issue" competition on MySpace.com. “I thought that it is a great chance to make new friends and a better life,” he said.   “I made a 3D-film, 'The LIFE,' about a boy who saw that life is dark because of four issues: ‘Poorness,’ ‘Violence,’ ‘Homeless animals’ and ‘Crime.’ He wished strongly to change the world.”

Dediu added, “This film shows that ‘Wish’ is a strong power and a strong ‘Wish’ can change the world.”

About Film Your Issue

A record-breaking 500 film submissions were received in the 4th annual FYI–Film Your Issue competition (www.filmyourissue.com), a global forum about local and international social issues, inviting youth ages 14 to 24 to address contemporary issues with two-minute short films on issues that impact their generation. 

"Film Your Issue" President HeathCliff Rothman noted, “This unprecedented consortium has joined forces to encourage young adults to add their voices to the public dialogue, using the power of the Internet and user generated content.”

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