Chicago, IL--Thanks to your votes and a great film, Maria Gigante, a MFA Film & Video student and graduate teaching assistant at Columbia College Chicago has been selected as one of three finalists in mtvU’s “Best Filmmakers on Campus” contest for her short “Girls Room.”
“Girls Room” is a dark comedy that tells the tale of Sammy, a young girl, who must confront the much-feared school bathroom where she is sure to encounter terror, humiliation and isolation. However, when she finally takes matters into her own hands, she discovers that maybe she isn’t so alone after all. Gigante wrote, directed and produced the film.
On April 26 Maria had the opportunity to show her film at a special screening at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. “Girls Room” was also screened at the Short Film Corner at the Cannes Film Festival on May 21.
Maria is headed to Los Angeles on Saturday to attend the 2007 MTV Movie Awards where the winner will be announced live during the June 3rd broadcast.
In addition to winning a trip to the MTV Movie Awards and a Golden Popcorn, the winning filmmaker will receive a development deal with MTV Films worth up to $25,000.
The wining film is chosen in large part by online voting and streams, viewing, input from MTV, mtvU and Paramount Pictures executives.
Gigante, a native of Lakewood, Ohio, says she enjoys telling intimate stories about people that hopefully make the audience feel less alone in the world. “I’m looking to make a connection with my audience. I usually accomplish the connection through a character that is slightly flawed, but eventually takes action to make themselves or their world better,” says Gigante.
Gigante’s short and feature-length screenplays have won awards around the country. In 2005 and 2006 she won the Columbia College Film and Video Department’s Written Image Screenplay Competition. “Girls Room” has been accepted to the Breckenrigde Film Festival and the Jackson Hole Film Festival. The film won the Audience Choice Award at the 40th Humbolt International Film Festival and is one of the only two United States films to screen at the 35th FICA Algarve Film Festival in Lisbona, Portugal this May.
The “Best Film on Campus” showcases short and feature length student films.