AUCA students’ films won three awards at the OSUN Film Festival!

December 19, 2022

Two of the films produced by AUCA students during the OSUN Visual Storytelling course won special awards in O-SUNDANCE, a film festival that showcased a total of 19 documentaries from across the OSUN Network. All documentaries were specifically designed to be socially impactful and raise awareness about topical issues.

Short 90-second teasers of the films were shown during the main part of the festival, followed by voting among the jury committee, which consisted of OSUN and Bard NY faculty and the president of AUCA Jonathan Becker. The jury nominated films in 8 categories such as Best Script, Editing, Cinematography, and others. Another voting in the category of the People's Choice Award was hosted among the audience.

One of the films by AUCA students called "The Virginity Taboo" was awarded in the category of Social Impact. It covered the topic of social stigmatization towards women and busted myths about virginity as a social construct. "The Price of Freedom" - another film by AUCA - won two nominations: Narration and People's Choice Award. The film reflected on an acute issue of freedom of speech in Kyrgyzstan which has been on the agenda for months now.

The award-winning films were produced during the Visual Storytelling for Civic Engagement class curated by an experienced filmmaker Nurzhamal Karamoldoeva and her teaching assistant Uluk Batyrgaliev, an award winner of the first O-SUNDANCE. During the course, students learned the basics of film production including pitching, filming, editing, directing, scriptwriting, and a lot more. They have also been working with outstanding filmmakers across the OSUN network - Adam Stepan, Dina Hossain, and Julia Titowa.

The films can be found here: https://osun.film

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