TXU Energy and the Dallas Film Society have announced the six winners of the fourth annual TXU Energy Light Up the Red Carpet Student Film Contest. The three high school and three university filmmakers debuted their films at the 2013 Dallas International Film Festival and learn the Dallas Film Society Honors on April 12.

“All of the films were terrific, and it was tough for our judges to select the grand-prize and first-place winners,” said Donna Egen, sponsorship manager for TXU Energy. “We’re very proud that so many students across Texas participated in the contest, and we’re happy that the scholarship prizes will support the students and their schools.”

The contest challenged high school and college student filmmakers from across the state to explore energy conservation, energy efficiency and energy management to answer the question: What does energy mean to you?

More than 130 students submitted concepts for films that would range from three to five minutes as they embarked on the competition for roughly $35,000 in cash prizes, video equipment and a walk down the red carpet.

TXU Energy introduced a new element to this year’s contest by offering 20 students the unique opportunity to work with industry mentors as they developed their films. Online voters selected the best short film concepts in December and the first-round finalists were matched with mentors. 

Additionally, critics shared their advice with students on what makes a good film and how to handle film critics’ reviews of their work. Participating critics included syndicated columnist Todd Jorgenson, Mark Walters of bigfanboy.com, Matt Mungle of the Mungle Show and Paul Salfen, who reviews films for multiple news outlets.

This year’s submissions saw films created in various Texas cities, including Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Laredo. Online voters were asked to rate the films based on forward-thinking and creative ideas, overall entertainment and production quality, and effectiveness in conveying the filmmakers’ concepts or messages. The winners are:

High School

Rachel Cocke, “The Electricity Between Us,” Wakeland High School, Frisco 

Taylor Martin, “Day In, Day Out,” Booker T. Washington School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Dallas

Malak Abdallahi, “Positive Vibes,” Fossil Ridge High School, Fort Worth

University

Samantha Gipson, “The Makeover,” Art Institute of Dallas, Dallas

Robert Ochoa, “The Giants in the Sky,” Baylor University, Waco

Jeremy Williams, “Spirits,” Northlake College, Irving

Their films can be seen at txu.com/studentfilmcontest.

Each of the top films in the high school and university categories will win the grand prize of $7,500. First-place winners from each category will receive $3,000, and the films from each category that received the most online votes will win the community-choice award and $1,000. Prizes will be split evenly between the winning students and their schools’ audiovisual departments.

All finalists received editing software valued at approximately $300.

Source: TXU Energy

By Amanda Casanova

A band beating on pots and pans and strumming homemade guitars will take the stage on April 27 at Irving’s Arbor Day Celebration.

The band, Vocal Trash, isn’t just looking for that perfect industrial sound for their music. They’re promoting conservation and recycling with their green-minded shows.

Their shows usually feature a “gas-can guitar,” another guitar with a tool box body, milk-urn bass and PVC pipe drums. Rounding out their sound are homemade shakers, scrappers and clickers— all of which are one of the reasons for the band’s name, Steve Linder, creator and band member of Vocal Trash, said.

About 10 years ago, the group debuted as primarily a musical show before later adding choreography and dance. Their green message came later too, Linder said.

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By Will Jukes

Dallas, TX- On April 6^th, SMU students and faculty partnered to put on Barefoot on the Boulevard, a festival of music and environmental advocacy. Emmanuel Jal, a South Sudanese rapper, humanitarian advocate and former child soldier blended the program's environmental theme with his own message of peace.

Jal was born in South Sudan, now an independent nation but then part of greater Sudan, in 1980. When the Second Sudanese Civil War broke out he tried to escape to Ethiopia but was recruited by the Sudan People's Liberation Army. He was 7 at the time. Later he managed to escape to Waat, a village that was home to many SPLA deserters and Emma McCune, a British aid worker who he says helped turn his life around. He has since gone on to become an internationally renowned hip hop artist and the founder of We Want Peace, a campaign to persuade people that world peace is a realistic possibility.

The event also featured tables from several local environmental organizations, including Texas Campaign for the Environment and Groundwork Dallas, an initiative to improve Dallas park land and bring on-site environmental education to local schools. All proceeds from the event went to TCE.

Read the whole story in the April 13 edition of The Rambler.

Photo by Jessie Burke.

By Jessie Burke

Lyric Stage members gathered for a Gala to celebrate twenty years of high quality local entertainment on March 21. The Irving Convention center’s ballroom was full of joy as guests reminisced over past productions and enjoyed dinner and live entertainment by Lyric favorites as well as a silent and live auction.

Founded by producer Steven Jones, Lyric Stage offers the people of Dallas County an opportunity to experience high quality, Broadway-style shows locally, the kind that one would normally have to travel to large cities to see.

Katherine Christy, from The Arts Community Alliance (TACA), says Lyric is one of her favorite area theatres. One of the things that makes Lyric Stage different is that every show is accompanied by a full orchestra

“As a musician myself, that really stands out to me, it’s not something you always see,” Christy said.
As well as celebrating the success of the Lyric, the gala was used as an opportunity to celebrate someone else: Ralph and Joan Ellis, who have been long time donors to the theatre, were presented with the first, and only Lyric Stage Spotlight Award. After accepting the award to a standing ovation, always humble, Ralph Ellis turned the thanks back upon the theatre.

“I’ve seen plays all over the world, New York, Dallas, even Bejing, China once, and there is no way you can see or hear anything like you can see and hear right here in Irving,” Ellis said. “This award should be given to those people who have made this theatre go. It’s a great culmination of work, and Joan and I are so happy to have been a part of it.”

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