News8A - The Daily Iowan - Iowa City, Iowa - Monday, November 7, 2011

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By RISHABH R. JAINrishabh-jain@uiowa.edu

A crowd of more than 60piled into the Mill Sundayevening,where they witnessedromance, comedy, and experi-mental films in Iowa City.

The screening was partof Public Access TV’s firstfilmmaking contest.

And with the help of sev-eral local business owners,seven of the 13 contestantswho entered the “I LoveIowa City Film Contest”left with prizes.

Yale Cohn, an associatemember of the PATV Boardof Directors, said he waspleased with how thingsturned out, even though thegroup didn’t get as manyentries as it expected.

“The first time you doanything, you learn whatworked, what didn’t, andwhat could have workedbetter,” Cohn said. “I havegreat hope to continue theseevents in the future, and itis only going to get better.”

PATV works as an inte-gral filmmaking resourcefor the community; itencourages anyone toattend its free orientationand subsequent workshopsthat can help them harnesstheir filmmaking talent.

Cohn previously extend-ed the deadline for submit-ting participating videosby 19 days, whichincreased the number ofsubmissions.

“We got more submis-sions. Other bigger film fes-

tivals usually have a largerdeadline than ours,” Cohnsaid. “Had we done thisevent earlier, we wouldhave known we neededmore time for submissions.”

The event began withthe screening of someshort videos by the PATVteam and then moved on toscreen winning entriesalong with a couple “honor-able mentions.”

Fidi Nagy,a UI sophomoreand a prize winner for hisromantic film “Song of IowaCity,”said he was very happywith the result, because hehadn’t expected to win.

Nagy, who exploredromance with Iowa Cityfrom a soon-to-graduatestudent’s perspective, saidhe was inspired by a fellowstudent who was about tograduate two days beforehe shot his film. He castthat student as the protag-onist for his film.

Another prize winner,community member JasonSmith, said he was excitedIowa City hosted an eventfor local filmmakers and

credited PATV for takingthe initiative.

“I have been involvedwith PATV since I was inhigh school, and I am sur-prised it doesn’t have toomany followers,” Smithsaid. “It gives you outletsto be creative and learnmore about filmmaking.”

Many local businessesaround Iowa City con-tributed to the contest bysponsoring the prizes forwinning entries. Some ofthese prizes includedmusic CDs, gift certificatesto Prairie Lights, free tick-ets to Englert Theatre, freecustom-made T-shirts, andalso custom-designedChristmas cards by localcartoonist Bob Patton.

Josh Goding, the execu-tive director of PATV,announced that PATV willhost similar events in thefuture with larger dead-lines. Goding gave the win-ners free one-year member-ships with PATV,which wouldgive them access to all PATV’sequipment and studio.

Jill Davis, a member of

the audience, said the con-test is a source of inspira-tion for everyday peoplelike her to explore theworld of filmmaking.

“I recently did the freeorientation at PATV. Ihave also been a volunteerand taken some work-shops, which have helpedme learn more about howto make films,” she said,and she would like to seemore film contests in thefuture.

BY DORA GROTEdora-grote@uiowa.edu

One University of Iowahonor society hopes to makea few more children’s birth-days “special” this year.

And, with the help of localbusinesses, the UI SigmaTheta Tau InternationalGamma Chapter Communi-ty Service Board will host aBirthday Party Kit Serviceto assemble birthday kitsfor children tonight.

“I thought it would be acool way to make birthdaysspecial for those [kids] whodon’t always get the opportu-nities,” said Anne Bye, theundergraduate leadershipintern for the Gamma Chap-ter — an international honorsociety for nursing students— who developed the idea.

The kits will be donated toShelter House and theRonald McDonald House,which will distribute themto children on their birth-days.

Kristin Roberts, the exec-utive director of the RonaldMcDonald House Charitiesof Eastern Iowa, is thrilledabout the idea.

“When a child is in thehospital, it is sometimeshard to feel normal, butwhen a volunteer groupcomes in and does some-thing like this, it gives thema sense of normalcy,”Roberts said. “A lot of times,parents might be focused onthe child in the hospital, andI think [the birthday kits]are a wonderful thing, notjust for the kids in the hospi-tal but for the siblings.”

Bye said 40 volunteerssigned up to assemble thekits with enough supplies,from donations, to assemble10 large kits.

The grouped received$300 in donations, in addi-tion to donations of variousparty items, includingbirthday-cake mix andfrosting, wrapping paper,and gift certificates.

Papa John’s Pizza is alsogiving the chapter 50 per-cent off of pizza for volun-teers, and Hobby Lobbygave them 50 percent offwhen purchasing supplies.

Samantha Robison, a vol-unteer and Community Ser-vice Board member for theGamma Chapter, said shehas spread the word aboutthe event and donations bytalking to her friends andsetting up a donation box inthe College of Nursing.

“The other great thing isthat each kit will haveenough supplies for siblingsand other children at theshelters to enjoy the festivi-ties as well,” Bye said.

Jacinda Bunch, the moth-er of three girls and theGamma Chapter treasurer,said the event is beneficialfor parents during tougheconomic times.

“As a parent,you hate to seeyour children disadvantagedin any way,” she said. “Youdon’t want to have to make adecision between birthdayparties and food for the week.This is a way to take care ofyour family and have a niceevent for your child.”

But Bye said the mostgratifying experience is thefeedback from children.

“We’re hoping we can seehow they throw their birth-day party and see theirreactions,” Bye said. “Seeingtheir reactions is alwaysvery rewarding.”

The kit event will takeplace from 7 to 9 p.m. todayin the UI College of Nurs-ing student lounge.

PATV holds festival Volunteers tobuild birthday kits

Spectators watch films made by local entrants at the I Love Iowa City Film Contest on Sunday in theMill. The contest was hosted by Public Access TV. (The Daily Iowan/Anthony Bauer)

An organizer saidhe hopes attractmore diversecontestants infuture contests byhaving broaderthemes.

Forty volunteers have signed up toassemble the birthday-party kits.

Film titlesNames of some winningentries at PATV’s I LoveIowa City filmmakingcontest: • “Song of Iowa City,” by Fidi Nagy• “Aftermath,” by Matt Wagner • “Black Opals 3a, 3b, 4,” byAva Su Gan-Wei• “Tale of the SharpieBandit,” by Jason Smith• “Heath the Toilet PaperBandit,” by John Richard

Source: PATV’s Program