Two ASU entries make it to final round in film contest

Two ASU films have moved to the Top 10 Fan Favorites in the SeeFlik Online Film Festival.

"Cadet" and "Good Injuns," directed by ASU School of Theatre and Film students Ryan Steiner and Chris Meyers, respectively, made it to the final round of top films in a competition that attracts student filmmakers from such prestigious, longstanding  programs as University of Southern California, University of California Los Angeles, Columbia University and New York University.

"These are some of the best film schools in the country,'' said Adam Collis, a visiting professor of film directing. "This is a great testament to our program,'' he said.

The two films were among five who drew rave reviews in the SeeFlik competition, a national student festival that includes competitions for both audience choice and juried panels.

Voting for the finalists continues and people are urged to go to seeflik.com to view and vote for the films and their directors regardless of whether they previously voted. Voting ends at at 11:59 (ET), Feb. 27.

Winners will be announced Feb. 29.

If they win, the students will receive an estimated $50,000 in prizes.

Each film was written, directed, produced, crewed and in some cases acted by students at the ASU School of Theatre and Film in the Herberger Institute. ASU entries for the Top 20 Judges Picks were "Cadet" by Ryan Steiner; "Good Injuns," by Chris Meyers; "The Fixer," by Nicolas Mihm and "Strings," by Kimberly Aiello.

The Top 20 Fan Favorites include "Cadet" and "Good Injuns," as well as Hayley Kosan's "The Understudy."

The films are part of the 15 Into 50 Film Festival initiative that challenged ASU film students to place at least 15 student films in 50 national level competitions each year, says F. Miguel Valenti, founder and director of the ASU Film and Media Production programs, and Lincoln Professor of Ethics and the Arts.

"15 INTO 50 as well as my professors from ASU have inspired and pushed me to enter as many festivals as possible," said Steiner, director of "Cadet." "It has kept me informed about festivals that could work for me as well as my fellow classmates and friends. It is truly an amazing program and I am so grateful to be a part of it. ASU has such amazing talent and we need to send it out to be seen all over! 15 INTO 50 can be done and we can do this ASU!"