Samantha Finch

Pictured above, a red carpet leads to Gottesman Room where a gala was held following the film festival.

The first Pace Film Festi­val was held this past weekend throughout campus in celebra­tion of the 50 anniversary of the Pace Pleasantville campus.

The eight-hour event spanned film culture starting in the 1960’s, and the selection of films varied for a wide range of audi­ences. Pace was given the land to build in Pleasantville in 1963 so to commemorate its 50 anniver­sary; Dean Susan Herman felt it was important to commemorate the historic anniversary. The fes­tival started off with films like Mary Poppins (1964) and Lilies of the Field (1963), and ended with The Life of Pi (2012) and Jurassic Park (1993).

“We chose films that were in­fluential on culture and politics during their time…Lillies of the Fields was the first time an Af­rican American was able to play a lead role…Jurassic Park was the first time Computer Gener­ated Images (CGI) were used,” Professor Corinne Sager said.

Sager, who is in charge of the media communications masters course Special Topics in Media Communications: Corporate De­sign, was the one responsible for picking the films and arranging the event.

Some films like Willy Wonka (1971) and Mary Poppins were picked so that they could reach a more youthful demographic, to attract people from Pleasant­ville who might have children to come to the event. This was one of the highlighted objectives to the Film Festival: to bring in people not only from inside the Pace community but from the lo­cal area as well.

“50 percent of the students at Pace are commuters, so we thought it would be a good way to get them to come and spend time on campus,” Sager said.

Local residents found them­selves at the event through ad­vertisements featured on their local patch websites, a social media campaign, and advertising in local businesses.

“If we bring enough people in this year, it might be easier to get people to return…if we do it again,” Dyson master’s program student, Katharine Spina said.

Future plans for an annu­al film festival are still in the works, but if they go accord­ingly, Pace will host a festival that primarily focuses on student made films. Courses like Produc­ing the Documentary and other production courses could use it as an outlet for screening their films to friends and family.

“There’s a lot of work that would have to be done because you’d have to set up a call for entries, deadlines, who would be judging it…,you’d also have to figure out a way to bring in more people, possibly bringing in celebrities,” Sager said.

This year’s festival includ­ed work from a graduate film course that presented their film at the Red Carpet Gala that con­cluded the event. The gala of­fered the screening of the film, a buffet, and networking oppor­tunities in which students could relax and enjoy the event with friends and family.