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April
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2015
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Alex Martin/The Minaret Alli DiGiacomo (left) and Travis misarti (right) have produced multiple shorts and have been recognized by the Cannes Film association for their film titled “Tea Time.”
Student Filmmakers Travel to Cannes Film Festival By JORDAN LLANES Asst. Sports Editor
After winning the Jury Award for “Tea Time” at Campus Moviefest (a moment that junior film and media arts major Travis Misarti called “incredible”) he received an email one day saying that the short film had been entered into a selection process to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival in France. The process was a bit nerve-racking
for Misarti and senior communications major Alli DiGiacomo. “We had to fill out an application, and they said that they would be selecting 26 students out of everyone they had invited,” Misarti said. After meeting last semester, the duo DiGiacomo and Misarti started Forza Coppia Productions, which is the production company that the two use for their movies. “Tea Time” was
conceived by Misarti over winter break, while DiGiacomo wrote her film “Seeing Straight,” which is another short film under the Forza Coppia banner. “We decided that we were going to co-direct both of them (“Tea Time” and “Seeing Straight”) together,” Misart saidi. “I sent ‘Tea Time’ to her, and she looked over it, and she said ‘this is great, I love it, I really
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wanted to work on it with you,’ and she didn’t have any other corrections for it.” The collaboration between the two filmmakers has sparked quite a bit of notoriety in just a short time frame. In addition to winning a Jury Award at Campus MovieFest (CMF) and being invited to Cannes, DiGiacomo’s leading lady in her film “Seeing Straight,” Jade Rivera, won Best Actress at the Campus Movie Fest finals here at UT. Working with the same actors has really helped them when it comes to shooting their films. “We feel like we’re really comfortable with using those actors. We feel like it’s a strong collaboration,” Misarti said. “It’s a big deal to find as directors people that you’re comfortable with. A lot of actors such as Charles (DoubledayPotts, who often serves as the leading man), Jade we’ve used a lot.” DiGiacomo also stressed the importance of collaborating with actors who are willing to take criticism from directors as young as they are. “It’s important to find actors that you can trust,” DiGiacomo said. “It’s better when the directors and the actors have trust. When Jade won Best Actress (at CMF), I was excited because we didn’t nominate her, so they chose her. She definitely deserved it because she’s convulsing and she actually cries so it was amazing.” That trust, in part, led Misarti to To CANNES Page 4
Theater Students Entreneurship Center Plan For Program Adjustments Show What majors living on campus will be placed in limiting student’s exposure to interaction in the same dorm and automatically placed in the local entrepreneurship community. an Entrepreneurship 101 course. However, there have been some recent They’re “Working” Since the entrepreneurship major “I think these changes will bring successes. In February of this year, the has been brought to UT, students have more confidence to the freshman Southeast Entrepreneurship Conference With reportedly lacked the right exposure to entrepreneurship majors, which is what you (SEEC) was held here at UT. Students were By HANNAH SAMPADIAN News Writer
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Students Are More Than Their Test Scores See OPINION Page 11
the resources needed to communicate with their fellow entrepreneurs. The Entrepreneurship Center at UT is trying to change this, with a few substantial adjustments in its programs and events in the upcoming 2015 school year. James Zebrowski, a UT alumni and staff assistant to the chair of the Entrepreneurship Center said, “We’ve (faculty) noticed that our students are
need in this field,” Holden Laquerre, senior entrepreneurship major said. “I didn’t really start meeting other kids with my same major until my upper level courses. Introducing them young will get them ahead of the game, it’s all about networking.” The department has attempted to increase networking in the past, but it hasn’t always gone so smoothly. During the Fall
Men’s Lacrosse ‘I think these changes will bring Team to Host more confidence to the freshman entrepreneurship major’ Conference - Holden Laquerre Tournament See SPORTS Page 16
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terrified of the word ‘networking.’” To bring less fear and more excitement to the idea of networking, the center has organized some locational and departmental changes. Beginning in the upcoming Fall semester, all incoming entrepreneurship
semester of 2014, there was a summit event, which brought in several business professionals to present to the students information on their specific careers. Several scheduling conflicts came up during the process and the event had to be cancelled,
able to participate in the national conference and interact with peers, as well as gain insight from professionals in the community. “Business professionals love meeting students,” Zebrowski said. “It’s the biggest advantage students have and should take advantage of to get ahead.” In the upcoming months, the Entrepreneurship Center has set up several events to make these professionals and students more readily available to one another. One of these is the Spartan Accelerator program, an event series designed to help current students and recent alums grow their business ideas, which will take place May 1. For next semester, entrepreneurship students can look forward to many more events and extracurricular activities. More information on these events can be found on the event calendar under the Entrepreneurship Center section at the UT website, as well as the Entrepreneurship Center’s UT webpage. Hannah Sampadian can be reached at hannah.sampadian@spartans.ut