Pulse
Selected Shorts
Contestants in a filmmaking contest send big public health messages in 30 seconds or less.
With healthy snacks and not-so-healthy popcorn in hand, students, faculty, and aspiring filmmakers settle into their seats in the Mayo Memorial Auditorium on the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, campus. They aren’t there to watch a major motion picture. They’re there to watch 10- or 30-second public service announcements entered in the University of Minnesota School of Public Health’s first filmmaking competition. All promote some aspect of public health—from preventing teen suicide, to stopping youth violence, to ending global warming.
The showing of the “mini-movies” was one of the highlights of the National Public Health Week Film Festival, an annual event that took place on campus in April. Each night, a film that touched on a public health theme (aging, immigrant health, climate change) was screened and followed by a discussion.
Message in a Beer Bottle
The idea for the filmmaking contest grew out of a casual conversation between Michelle Lian-Anderson, director of alumni relations and special events for the school, and several alumni who were helping coordinate the film festival. “We wanted to know how we could broaden our reach,” says Lian-Anderson. “We knew we could reach the School of Public Health and the university in general, but how do we get a broader audience?”
During the discussion, Lian-Anderson mentioned she was part of a team that had entered Grain Belt’s make-your-own-commercial contest, an amateur competition sponsored by the New Ulm, Minnesota, brewer. The alumni group decided to fashion a similar contest in which competitors would create 10- or 30-second spots that delivered a public health message.
Lian-Anderson took the idea for the filmmaking contest to the school’s administrators, who greeted it with “pure enthusiasm.” She also got offers of help from staff members, including Paul Bernhardt, a multimedia producer in the school’s Center for Public Health Education and Outreach.
Bernhardt says the public service announcement format is important because people’s attention spans are getting shorter. “It presents a wonderful challenge to filmmakers to craft a message that is effective in a short amount of time,” he notes.
Bernhardt used his connections in the filmmaking community to spread the word about the contest, which drew entries from professional producers as well as high school students.
The spots were judged by a three-person panel that included Ali Selim, director of Sweet Land, a story about the American immigrant experience set in southern Minnesota that won Best First Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards this year; Joseph Kim, Ph.D., who earned his doctorate at the University of Minnesota and is now a lecturer in epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; and Ellen Benavides, M.P.H., who directed Minnesota Confidential, a film about minors’ access to health services.
Silly Pictures, Beautiful People
The winning entry came from a Minneapolis group called the Kangaroo Project. Titled “Beautiful People,” the 30-second announcement pokes fun at the pictures on drivers’ licenses while emphasizing the importance of organ donation.
Julie Hartley, who accepted the award, explained that the spot was inspired by her son, Sean Francis, an aspiring film and television producer who was killed in a motorcycle accident at age 20.
Other winning spots included two by Delano High School students, one of which stressed the importance of family in preventing teen suicide and another that encouraged teens to use protection to help stop the spread of AIDS, and a Minneapolis filmmaker who asked how many gallons of innocent blood must be shed before we put an end to youth violence. The Kangaroo Project also was recognized for a spot that reminded viewers that HIV and AIDS are still a threat.
When asked what set the winners apart, Bernhardt said: “It’s all about the message. Every element serves the story.”
All 17 entries can be seen on the School of Public Health’s website, www.sph.umn.edu/film/entries/home.html.—Kim Kiser