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APR 14 1997 ~COUE.GeU8lWly THE CHRONICLE o f COLUMB COLLEGE C Ii C AGO VOL. XXX, No. 21 April 14, 1997 THE OTH OF THE The 1'eCen-t: ~uceS"S" of independen-l 'Soull=ooJ,' give, Columbi" "nJ nuJenh <omething to boon "bout. ,ucce" hunJreJ, of film nuJent. from Chicago', film hou,e, to T m"ke it big in.film. But Ion in the T'ljtelling """ the ob.tacle, th"t come It's an all to familiar site around Columbi a 's campus: Film students lugging around clumsy black boxes, li g ht meters strapped around their necks. and shooling their fi lms in Gfa.nt Park. But what is going on inside the minds of these complex artists? Success, one might think, perhaps even . visions of a major Hollywood studio plucking them from their amateur status, making them by tomorrow's hottest director. over I Let's get real. Success in any is a bu siness just like any other, field is difficult, and dreams the goal is to make money. In Film major, Lisa Ziembicki peers into the lens in Grant Park, have their place. As in every spite of that, film is a sensiti ve where most film students practice their tra de. trade, the best way f.of a neo­ business with the artist's per· phyte to stand out is to know the ceptions and personalities business, and know it wel l. deeply rooted in their work. With such alumni as With the exception of a lucky Abrams cut as 1987 graduate, Janusz kamins· few, most di rectors never get to !ti, an Academy Award recipient make a fi lm that reflects their for his cinematography work on own beliefs. the film Schindler's List, and "As an instructor, I FilmNideo chair more recently 199 1 graduate, have three goals: One, to get my By James Boozer duct ion to the college commu­ writer/director Theodore students to apply for production Copy Editor nity, the film community or the Witcher, and hi s new feature funds. Two, to get film students academic community at large as film, "Love Jones", Columbia to appl y for scholarship awards In a surprise move by the hi s well deserved reputation as College is placing students at such as the Weisman coll ege, the contract of a fi lm maker, scholar and a Fi lmlYideo Department chair­ teacher of extraordinary talent person, Ira Abrams, has not certainly are weB known local­ been renewed. Replacing ly, nationally, indeed. interna­ Columbia's foreign student Abrams as acting chairperson is tionally," said Bert Gall , Michael Rabiger, a professor Provost and Executive Vice who work ed in the President, in an announcement Documentary Film Center. enrollment at all-time high "Michael needs little intro· See Abrams, next page Rui Kaneya available. Staff Writer However, accord· Despite the small rate of ing to Dinello unveiled increase in foreign·student Gigi Posejpal, assistant dean of lor's institutions and communi· enrollment nati onwide, international student affairs, ty college. Boston College led By Erin Bonillo 1 w;J.s on the threshold of no ordi ­ Columbia College is attracting roughly 80 new slUdents have all U.S. institutions in overall Slllff Wrilt'r nary fi lm professor. more international stude nts enroll ed fo r th is semester. enrollment , with 4532 foreign Blips like " Best Film" and than ever before. Colu mbia's fo reign·student students-15.6 percent of its I sc urry up to Dan Dincll o's " Dinell o takes fil m to Sundance in a nationwide study con· population has been expanding popu lation. office with all the eager­ Film Festival", jump ducted by the Institute of Intern considerably for last 10 years. With 3,038 foreign students, ness and blatant clue­ out ;lOci int imidate atonal Education, Columbia ran "Seven or eight years ago, there Un ive rsity of Ill inois al lessness of a fre sh my novice skill s. ked sixth in fore ign-stude nt were maybe between 80 and 90 Urbana-Champaign ranked first Chronicle reporter on a Without even a enrollment last year in the international students," she in Illinois, and II th in the profil e assignment knock. I turn around bachelor's institution category. said. "Every year we are getting nation. handed out only ten and retreat as quick­ In the fall semester, more and more students." Nine Asian countries domi­ mi nutes ago. ly as I pra nced in. Columbia accommodated 321 The institute's annual report, nated the top 10 countries that As I make Illy way Okay- green foreign students, which "Open Doors 1995·96," is sent the highest numbers of stu­ into the Film and Video journali st, let's try amounted to 4.4 percent ' of based on a census of the for· dents to the United States. offi ce, I smile. thrilled some hackground Columbia's total population. eign-student populati on at Japan led all countries with at the prospect of a info. iirst. I head to Foreign students accounted fo r 2,715 accredited U.S. colleges 45,53) students for the second breezy interview and a the library in hopes 3.1 percent of the total enroll· and universities, 96 percent of consecutive year, fo llowed by quick write-up. I reach of finding a few ment in U.S. higher education which responded to the insti· the Republic of Korea. which hi s closed offi ce door mentions of his last year. lUte's questionnaire. sent 36,23 1 students. Thailand i.lOd stop, taking in all Dan Dinello name. One hour and The exact number of The study divides schools was placed third, sending the taped-up clips not­ Phl1/o by li.w M t'luJel. forty-three minutes Colul1Jbia's foreign students for into five categories: research, 12,165, an increase of 11.7 ing Dinello recent later, rill still sifting the spring semester is not yet doctoral, master's and bache· See Abroad, next page awards and filmmaker 's honors. It is suddenly quite apparent that See Film Prof, next page ,. 2 NEWS April 14, 1997 TIlE CHRONIQ,E A bra ·m s Journalism Department The bumpy- road .contract not 623 S. Wabash Ave., Suite 802 Chicago, Illinois 60605 to filmmaking renewed Continued from page 1· News desk: Continued from page I 312-663-1600 Ext. 5343 Scholarship. And three, to get nies censoring my work." Buchar. "They have to decide last week. my students work noticed," said Independent film mak­ this [film] is what they want to do Rabiger has been a member Photo desk: Carter Martin, instructor of Film ers are getting much more recog­ for the rest of thei r li ves, and then of Columbia's FilmNideo 312-663-1600 Ext. 5732 Techniques II & III. Video pr<r nition in 1997. The Academy of be persistent about it." department for 25 years and duct ion and Screen Writing I. Motion Pictures Arts and Buchar continued to say earned a B.A. degree in filnr Advertising desk: " What many film students need he was impressed with the from DePaul University. He is I '~ to realize, is that thi s is a very amount of students wanting to do 312- 663-1600 Ext. 5432 the author of two books, I'. expensive business. I put out a film because the odds of success "Directing the .. are so low. Buchar estimates that 32 minute film that went to sev­ Documentary"and "Directi~g: FAX: eral film festivals. and total pro­ for every 50 fi lm students, only Film Techniques and 312-427-3920 duction costs were at S20,O(X)''' two go on to reach any kind of Aesthetics." · Both books are success. According to Martin a widely used texts in film 't mistake beginning film students "Talent will more often E-mail: schools around the world. frequently make is the assump­ than not find recognition," said Rabiger was on leave dur­ Chron96@ tion that they can go straight film student Troy Sargeant, 26, of ing the beginning of this interaccess.com from Film Techniques I to full­ Wrigleyville. "Succeeding in school year while serving as length feature films. Smaller Hollywood is a different story." Distinguished Visiting Web page: films help make bigger films. With so many film stu­ Professor at New . York Students should apply for smaller dents wanting to be directors, http://www5.interaccess. University's Tisch School of funding at first. prove to them­ personal talent will be tested to the Arts and returned to com/chronicle selves and their grant provider the extreme. After a point, other Columbia last February. that they can successfully create factors such as luck begin to play Editor-in-Chief The FilmNideo deparunent a shon film. Then attempt a larg­ a role.