2020 NOVA STUDENT FILM FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL – Postponed
Due to the measures being pursued by the community and the College to control the spread of COVID 19, the 2020 NOVA Student Film Festival International is being postponed. A new date will be announced when circumstances permit. Thank you for your support and continuing interest in encouraging the development of the art of cinema. Please continue to check our blog for updates: NOVA Student Film Festival International (https://blogs.nvcc.edu/nsff/)
“Women in Society” Poster designed by: Zarina Dela Cruz
NOVA Studio (NOVA Alexandria)
Supervising Professor: Lisa Hill
2019 NOVA Student Film Festival film lineup now available online (link below festival review)
Sixth Annual NOVA Student Film Festival International – A Forum for Humanity
Festival review by Dr. Meredith Aquila
The 2019 NOVA film festival was screened at the Schlesinger Auditorium on Alexandria campus to an audience of more than four hundred. In her welcoming remarks, Cinema Professor, Lucy Gebre Egziabher, repeated what she tells her students, that films should hold a mirror to society. 
Professor Lucy’s announcement of the Joe Windham Award for Cinematic Activism was a tribute to a former colleague whose dedication was being memorialized, as it was a stamp on the role of cinema for social activism.
Out of two hundred and ninety entries, a careful selection of films portrayed documentary, narrative fiction, animation, and experimental, and the diversity of the film genres and cinema styles ranged from American, Chinese, Iraqi, Turkish, and Azerbaijani to Iranian, Mexican, and Tunisian filmmakers. The films treated burning issues of our time depicting government surveillance, gun violence, LGBTQ persecution, and acts of terrorism just to mention a few poignant topics.
The festival showcased 15 original short films 8 by NOVA students and 7 by international peers in the “Films Without Walls” series which welcomes submissions by film students from across the globe. Included in the series were films that addressed the theme of the year: Immigration & Refugees. The series were created by Professor Lucy Gebre Egziabher, with the objective to have, each year, film students from various parts of the world address a given theme as it pertains to their respective realities.
This year, a selection of films from Iran, Mexico, and the U.S. recognized the challenges, fears, and injustices suffered by so many who leave their homes behind in search of a better life. The centerpiece of the Festival was the debut of “Siempre Experanza,” a creation of the Film Collaborative International – a partnership between NOVA Alexandria students and students from two institutions in Oaxaca, Mexico: 100 Escuela de Cine and UNIVAS – Universidad José Vasconcelos. Communicating with thousands of miles between them, students from the three institutions acted, directed, filmed, and edited an original, haunting tale of an undocumented family trying to find the American dream.
After a sumptuous reception of middle eastern food, the screening kicked off with welcome messages from Prof. Lucy Gebre-Egziabher, Founder and Director of the festival, the Dean of Languages, Arts, and Social Sciences, Dr. Jimmie McClellan and the Provost of the Alexandria campus, Dr,. Annette Haggray; and ended with a Q&A session with the student Directors in which numerous from the audience remarked on the students’ professionalism, talent, insight, and creativity.
There were more than a few misty eyes visible among those in attendance when lights came on after the screening. The NOVA Film festival has become an annual event with growing followers who look forward to it with great anticipation and it never disappoints. It is a powerful forum using cinema to move us and to make us confront the best and worst in our society and in ourselves.
Meredith S. H. Aquila, D.A. is a Professor in the Communication Studies and Theatre (CST) Department at the NOVA Alexandria Campus
2019 NSFF – NOVA Student Film Festival – the complete film lineup
2019_festival program
2018 NOVA Student Film Festival film lineup now available online (films below festival review)
2018 NOVA Student Film Festival in review…
a review by Prof. Meredith Aquila
The 5th annual NOVA Student Film Festival was held on Thursday, April 26, 2018 in the 
newly built Alexandria’s Fine Arts (AFA) building. This festival had a standing room only audience with a succession of strong films with bigger visions and powerful voices. The event kicked off with a reception on the patio on a sunny afternoon with an audience made up of students, employees, community members, and even international visitors. Cinema professor, Lucy Gebre-Egziabher, known to her students as Prof. Lucy, founded the NOVA Student Film Festival with a vision to provide a platform for students to exhibit their talent and showcase their works in film.
The screening opened with a lineup of NOVA students’ films followed by a “making of” film 
on the process of making of the experimental film on climate change. Professor Gebre-Egziabher’s Film Collaborative International (FCI) students made the experimental film based on a script written by screenwriting students inspired by a concept that won the story idea competition this year.
Two FCI partner schools that submitted films on the overarching theme of “climate change” were China’s Xing Tai Polytechnic and Mexico’s 100Volando Escuaela de Cine. This partnership is part of Professor Lucy Gebre-Egziabher’s “Films without Walls” initiative which brings together student filmmakers from all over the world to learn from one another and to share meaningful stories.
Delegates from China’s Xing Tai Polytechnic College were on hand to introduce their students’ film, “Snow,” and to enjoy other international contributions from Belarus, Congo, Germany, Italy, Iran, Iraq, Mexico, Morocco, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and the United States.
Xing Tai Vice President, Liu Weihong, Director of Arts and Media, Yang Zhihong, and Vice Director of the International Office, Wei Wei endured a long flight and weathered the jet lag to attend the event, but their students made them proud, and they expressed sheer delight with the entire event and its participants.
The audience was remarkably impressed by the creativity and talent displayed in the wide variety of genres, including animation, narrative fiction, documentary, experimental, and promotional videos. NOVA alumni had a significant presence in the festival lineup. 
Nikkia Atkinson’s film entitled “Dinosaurs in the Hood” was a powerful visual interpretation of a spoken word poem, a commentary on race realities in the US; while “Consumed” by Madeleine Rooks was a gripping depiction of schizophrenia; and Mathew Vargas, who directed this year’s FCI film “Impact” offered a wakeup call on climate change. Director Qin Wenlong’s 秦文龙 “Snow” was a heartwarming tale on how the weather weaves into life.
Other “Films Without Walls” directors including, Mohamed El Mamouni’s Pression from Morocco; Patrizia Fazzi and Antonella Barbera’s Franca from Italy, and Jubrail Abubaker’s Ailan from Iraq are among those that were powerful and thought provoking. Animation films by Bernadette Tshiang Tshiananga, Germany/Congo “Madogo” and from 
Belarus director Evgeniy Zarutski’s “The Toy” were entertaining social commentaries while “Alphabet” by a film by Kianoush Abedi from Iran was profoundly moving.
The screening closed with a film entitled, “Nature” by director Hadi Mustafa from Iran, a story woven in fine art with a message on our precarious humanity. The festival ended with a Q&A where the audience interacted with the student directors and others who participated in the filmmaking process.
Amidst the celebration of global camaraderie and scholarship, Professor Lucy Gebre Egziabher officially announced the creation of NOVA’s new Associate of Fine Arts (AFA) Degree in Cinema. This program has been a long time in coming and represents the hard work and dedication of numerous NOVA faculty and staff, prominent among whom is Lucy herself. NOVA students will now have more opportunities than ever to build successful careers in film, and community members will have more opportunities to see outstanding student films.
Bravo! Professor Lucy Gebre Egziabher for your vision, dedication and your selection of an awesome film lineup for this year’s festival.
We look forward to the 2019 NOVA Film Festival!
Meredith S. H. Aquila, D.A. is a Professor in the Communication Studies and Theatre (CST) Department at the NOVA Alexandria Campus
Visit our Picture Gallery for pictures from the 2018 NOVA Student Film Festival.
Please check submission details for the 2019 NOVA Student Film Festival here.
2018 NSFF – NOVA Student Film Festival – film lineup
Flyer design by Julia Goldberg – NOVA Studio
Press Release
Films from the 2017 NOVA Student Film Festival now available online (click on link below festival review)
2017 Film Festival in review…
a review by Prof. Meredith Aquila
NOVA held its fourth yearly film festival on April 27, 2017 at the Bisdorf auditorium on its Alexandria campus.
The 2017 NOVA Student Film Festival opened with a reception and it was evident that repeat attendees were in abundance and there was an air of excitement from anticipation of the films to be screened. The auditorium was packed and even the standing room was filled up.
The festival presented a selection of 19 films covering a wide variety of genres, including comedy, horror, documentary and drama. Included in the lineup were films from NOVA alumni currently studying film at GMU. Students from NOVA whose works were presented at the festival came from diverse backgrounds and academic disciplines including engineering, computer science and history.
Included in the selection was a film by an Ethiopian filmmaker a former student of Professor Lucy Gebre Egziabher who taught film courses in Ethiopia as a Fulbright scholar. The Film Collaborative International is yet another forum that Professor Lucy created. A film exchange through the collaborative resulted in “Final Exam” from Ethiopia and the US about student life. Final Exam was screened in the 2016 festival, but “the making of Final Exam” was one of the films presented at the 2017 NOVA Student Film Festival.
It was evident from the breadth of the films presented and the enthusiasm of the audience that the NOVA Student Film Festival has hit a high note in both quality and diversity. The credit goes to Professor Lucy who planted the seed four years ago with a vision to create a platform for her film students to showcase their best works. At the end, students who were involved as actors, directors, producers, cinematographers, and editors had an opportunity to engage with the audience and receive critical feedback.
The festival was well organized and except for minor technical sound disruptions, it was conducted with precision, humor and camaraderie. Certainly, the NOVA Student Film Festival has become a yearly event one looks forward to. Congratulations to the participants and hats off to Professor Lucy Gebre Egziabher.
Films from the 2017 NOVA Student Film Festival are now available online. Click image below to watch:
Elena by Fernando Barrientos
(click here for 2017 NOVA Student Film Festival Program)
Please save the date for the 5th Annual Student Festival will be held April 26, 2018 and NOVA students from all campuses are invited to submit their original works for consideration.
For more information, please contact Prof. Lucy Gebre-Egziabher: Email: lgebre@nvcc.edu or 703-845-6297
Meredith S. H. Aquila is a Professor in the Communication Studies and Theatre (CST) Department at the NOVA Alexandria Campus
2017 NOVA STUDENT FILM FESTIVAL
film line up from our 4th annual film festival
will soon be available online
(click here for 2017 NOVA Student Film Festival Program)
Elena by Fernando Barrientos
To enter your film please read submission details below
Call for Entry
2017 NOVA Student Film Festival
Submissions details:
Films not more than 15 minutes
Scripts not more than 5 pages
Submission deadline: Friday, April 14th at 5pm
fill out entry form below and email it signed by deadline to:
novastudentfilmfestival@gmail.com
2017 NSFF entry form
AND
Send your film via WeTrasfer.com to novastudentfilmfestival@gmail.com
For more information contact: Prof. Lucy G/E lgebre@nvcc.edu * phone: 703-845-6297
2016 NOVA STUDENT FILM FESTIVAL
Film festival lineup is now available online
(click here for 2016 Film Festival Program)
This year the festival was comprised of films made by NOVA film students AND film students in Ethiopia.
The Ethiopian films in context…
This year the festival showcased films from NOVA students and from films students in Ethiopia. Gender Gift, Arogew Genzeb & Bithonis were made by women that took Prof. Lucy’s Screenwriting workshop “Telling Herstory”, that was part of a campaign launched by the US Embassy in Ethiopia to raise awareness against gender based violence (GBV). Participants in this workshop had to treat a GBV theme in their scripts. The 3 finalists scripts were made into these short films.
Qanafaa & Ye Goma Werat were films made by students from Prof. Lucy’s recent Fulbright Specialist Program in Addis Abeba (October – December 2015). Once the intensive short term training program was completed in the classroom, students had a “from script to screen” workshop, a practical application were they flexed their filmmaking muscles 🙂 These were 2 out of the 4 films that were made.
2016 Film Festival in review…
a review by Prof. Meredith Aquila
The 3rd Annual NOVA Film Festival was hosted by Professor Lucy Gebre Egziabher on April 
29, 2016 on the Alexandria campus. The Festival brought together students, employees, and community members to the screening of films in a variety of genres. Students had the opportunity to showcase their work in which they worked as scriptwriters, actors, directors, producers, sound/light technicians, and editors.
The 3rd Annual NOVA Student Film Festival demonstrated the growth in variety and quality of films it featured. The films covered a wide variety from narrative to experimental films. The scripts also treated timely social and political issues on immigration and gender inequality, among others.
The centerpiece of the NOVA Film Festival was one that explored a parallel of student life in Ethiopia and the US. This narrative short film, entitled, “Final Exam” was a joint production of her students in Ethiopia and those at NOVA, Alexandria campus through Professor Lucy’s Film Collaborative International.
The audience was captivated throughout the screening of the films, and had the opportunity to view the works of Ethiopian students, whom Professor Lucy had taught during her recent Fulbright Scholarship in Addis Ababa (October-December 2015). A video recorded message from the Ethiopian student filmmakers added a special flavor to the event. The audience engaged with the NOVA students, during the Q&A session, by asking 
questions and giving them feedback. The student filmmakers were able to share their insight into their artistic choices, challenges, and triumphs and this gave the Festival a platform for an informative and intimate encounter between students and audience.
Films from the 2016 NOVA Student Film Festival are now available online (http://blogs.nvcc.edu/lgebre/) Please save the date for the 4th Annual Student Festival will be held April 27, 2017 and NOVA students from all campuses are invited to submit their original works for consideration.
For more information, please contact Prof. Lucy Gebre-Egziabher: Email: lgebre@nvcc.edu or 703-845-6297
Meredith S. H. Aquila is a Professor in the Communication Studies and Theatre (CST) Department at the NOVA Alexandria Campus
2016 NOVA STUDENT FILM FESTIVAL
Friday, April 29th from 6pm -9pm. Opening reception at 6pm. Event free and open to the public:
NOVA Alexandria – 5000 Dawes Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22311 – Bisdorf Bldg. Room 196
Our 3rd annual NOVA Student Film Festival will highlight students’ films from NOVA AND Ethiopia!
Please do not miss this event:
5 shorts films from Ethiopia, from my Fulbright program and from US Embassy in Ethiopia “Telling Herstory” Screenwriting workshop, will be featured:
“Betehonis” by Azeb Worku
“Gender’s Gift” by Meaza Hadera
“Arogew Genzeb” by Serkadis Megabiyaw
“Qanafaa” By Bayisa Tura (Romeo) & Sagni Dibisa
“We Goma Werat” by Michael Shemelis
The highlight of the festival will be a collaborative film project made by film students from the NOVA Alexandria campus, Film Collaborative International, and the Ethiopian New Wave Filmmakers, my students from the Fulbright program in Ethiopia.
2016 NSFF
2016 NOVA Student Film Festival
Friday, April 29, 2016 – 6pm – 9pm
opening reception at 6pm
NOVA – Alexandria Campus – 5000 Dawes Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22311
Bisdorf Bldg., room 196
Our 3rd annual festival will highlight 5 short films from Prof. Lucy’s film students in Ethiopia; from both the Fulbright Specialist program as well as from the “Telling Herstory” screenwriting workshop delivered at the US Embassy in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia
event free and open to the public
Submission deadline extended for
2016 NOVA Film Festival
Send your film via WeTransfer.com to NOVAstudentfilmfestival@gmail.com
AND
Submit your entry form to:
NOVAstudentfilmfestival@gmail.com
by
Friday, April 15, 2016 (final extension) by 5pm
2016 NOVA Student Film Festival
Friday, April 29, 2016 – opening reception at 6pm
NOVA – Alexandria Campus – Bisdorf Bldg., room 196
== / ==
2016 NOVA Student Film Festival
Call for entries
Please submit your short films (up to 15 minutes long); your scripts (5 minutes)
New section added for the Ethiopian New Wave Filmmakers
Deadline for submission
April 11, 2016
For more information please check out our promo video
All entries must be submitted with
a 2016 NSFF entry form
(detailed submission information on the entry form)
== / ==
NOVA STUDENT FILM FESTIVAL WOWS IN ITS 2nd YEAR
a review by Prof. Meredith Aquila
Students and professionals came together Friday, May 1, 2015 at Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) Alexandria campus to share the fruits of their labor at the 2nd Annual NOVA Student Film Festival. An audience made up of NOVA students, friends and family as well as faculty, staff and Alexandria community members, turned out and enjoyed a festive spread with the opening reception followed by a night of screenings, thanks to the hard work and hospitality of Filmmaker and Professor, Lucy Gebre-Egziabher. “Professor Lucy G/E” as she’s known by her students, screened 10 film made by NOVA students, ranging from gritty documentaries and dramas to surreal experimental shorts. The festival also showcased the “best of shows” from three local film festivals: the Alexandria Film Festival, Rosebud Film and Video Festival, and DC Shorts Film Festival. Representing new partnerships with the college, the participation of these three professional festivals gave students the chance to see the work of some of the area’s top writers, directors, and producers, while learning more about their craft. Those who attended marveled at the level of expertise shown; some viewers occasionally mistook a student film for one of the professional ones! One thing was obvious to all in attendance however: the 3RD annual Student Film Festival is not to be missed!
Meredith S. H. Aquila is a Professor in the Communication Studies and Theatre (CST) Department at the NOVA Alexandria Campus
To watch our students films online click here: 2015 NSFF
==//==
2015 NOVA Student Film Festival is proud to feature “best of shows” from 3 established film festivals in the DMV area:
Alexandria Film Festival
Rosebud Film & Video Film Festival
DC Shorts Film Festival
join us
on Friday, May 1 2015
at the Alexandria Campus – in Bisdorf Bldg., room 196
from 5:45pm – 9pm
Opening Reception at 5:45pm followed by program
Free admission and open to the public
====== / ======
the 2nd Annual NOVA Student Film Festival
Call for entries
is now open
Please submit your short films (up to 15 minutes long); your scripts (5 minutes)
New section for Virginia High School Students
Deadline for submission
April 15, 2015
For more information please check out our promo video
All entries must be submitted with
(detailed submission information on the entry form)
====== / ======
2015 NOVA Student Film Festival
SAVE the Date:
Friday, May 1st 2015
1st Annual NOVA Student Film Festival (May 2014) in review
by Merideth Aquila (Professor, Communications Studies & Theatre Department)
Family, friends and fans of Professor Lucy Gebre-Egziabher’s film students got a treat last week when NOVA hosted its first annual Student Film Festival on May 1st 2014.
The festival featured short films, experimental films, music videos, the film that was shot for last year’s 48 Hour film project and a “making of” documentary, all created by NOVA Alexandria film students. The audience got an additional treat with script readings of select scripts written by screenwriting students.
In addition to seeing the results of Professor Lucy’s coursework and club activities, visitors had the chance to engage the student filmmakers in Q&A sessions and hear about their creative process.
Several faculty and staff members attended the event to show their support, and were impressed by the quality and variety of the submissions. It was clear that Professor Lucy’s emphasis on creative collaboration has been taken to heart by her students, who gained valuable, hands-on experience in screenwriting, directing, cinematography, editing, and acting.
Reviewer – Professor Meredith Aquila
the 1st Annual NOVA Student Film Festival – Alexandria is
Coming to a theatre near you on May 1st 2014
Alexandria Campus – Bisdorf Bldg., room 196 – 6pm – 9pm
SAVE THE DATE! More information will be posted! Stay tuned!
To enter your film in the film festival please download entry form below and submit it with a preview DVD of your film and a short typed synopsis, by April 17th 2014 by 5pm.
Drop off your entry at NOVA – Alexandria Campus – Tyler bldg., Room 226 – CST Department
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