A group of students from Adventist-operated Montemorelos University recently obtained second place for their film submitted during the 9th national university Hazlo en Cortometraje, or Do it in Short film, contest in Mexico City, Mexico.
This year’s theme “Creative Citizenship” allowed students and recent graduates to use film to propose creative solutions to social and environmental challenges facing Mexico and the world.
The short film submitted by Montemorelos students, “El arbol de la Poesía” or “The Tree of Poetry,” is about a professor who teaches that everyone is full of dreams and ideas. The film also highlights the importance of listening and sharing together, said Jorge Sosa, the film’s creator, director and editor, who also graduated from the Montemorelos School of Arts and Communication last year.
The project was among the 1,130 short films submitted under fiction, documentary, animation, and experimental categories. The awards ceremony was held January 26, in Cinépolis Arcos Bosques facilities in Mexico City.
“The Tree of Poetry” film has a variety of messages. It is an ode to the power of art to unite people, break barriers and delight in simple things. It is also a call to return to paper, analogue, face-to-face talks in the park and coexistence, as well as makes an appeal for community growth, explained Sosa.
“It was so valuable to be part of this competition because events like these encourage young people to come up with solutions and allows for the expression of ideas beneficial to the social well-being in these times,” said Sosa.
Winning second place inspires him to continue creating and believing that “we can inspire others to make a difference around us,” said Sosa.
“Art, poetry and communication have the power to rebuild the social fabric, becoming better communities, as well as more empathetic, more united and more thoughtful,” said Sosa.
The top winning short films will become part of the BBVA Bancomer Foundation and Cinépolis Foundation and will be screened in cultural and educational forums across Mexico.
Professor Matheus Nascimento, director of the Montemorelos School of Arts and Communication, who plays the main character of the short film, congratulated the students saying their accomplishment confirms the school’s mission to teach students how to produce quality audiovisual content as part of the overall mission of the institution.
“This is a window of opportunity for them to promote cinema as a great tool with an enormous potential to reach an audience that we otherwise would not be able to reach,” said Nascimento.
The production team received a prize of 30,000 pesos (approximately US $1,470) and an all-expenses paid trip to the award ceremony as well as a two-day audio course in Mexico City.
To learn more about Montemorelos University, visit um.edu.mx