By NELDA MASCHMEYER
Four BYU international students hope to make a name for themselves and BYU by entering an international film competition.
Eva-Marie Stegeby-Lima, 23, a junior from Sundsvall, Sweden majoring in screenwriting, wrote and organized the three-minute film called “The End” for the “Make your own Web film” competition.
The competition will be judged in Sweden.
“I thought of the idea for the film after having read an Edgar Allan Poe story a long time ago. To this day, I haven’t been able to find his story again but it really impressed me,” Stegeby-Lima said.
Stegeby-Lima said there are only two characters in her screenplay: actors Magnus Henriksen and Martin Sorensen. She said after she had transferred the film to the PAL system — the European film system — she sent it on Wednesday to Sweden.
The decision on who will win the competition will be made in mid-November. She said the main reason for entering the contest was the opportunity for exposure.
“Since the winning films will be posted on the Web, this will be a great chance to get publicity,” she said.
Stegeby-Lima said she is excited to see international students getting together and having a good time in making this film. She said they should submit more films like this in the future to more competitions.
She said a couple of winners will be selected from the applicants. The winners will get recognition and publicity in the Swedish newspaper “Aftonbladet,” a top Swedish newspaper and over the Web.
“I think it’s of good quality,” Stegeby-Lima said.
Jorge Ramirez, 26, a junior from Mexico City, Mexico majoring in theater and media arts directing, the director and editor of the film, said the students just found out about the film competition two weeks ago and had only that time to get it all together before the contest.
He said at least one person had to be Swedish on the team. Stegeby-Lima fit that requirement.
Ramirez said the story takes a reverse approach to storytelling because it starts at the end and ends at the beginning.
He said the film will also be used in the San Diego/Latino film fest.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to go beyond the BYU experience by entering this contest. We want to give a good name to our school as well as to our different cultures,” Ramirez said.
Emma Hernandez, 21, a junior from Montevideo, Uruguay majoring in marketing and communications, the spokesperson for the international student association, said this first-time ever contest encourages independent, low-budget films.
“I am proud that these international students are reaching out,” Hernandez said.
She said there are about 1500 international students at BYU that have received very little awareness in the past.
“A lot of people don’t know we, the international students, are here and so I think this is cool because these film students are getting together mostly from different countries and setting a precedence for BYU,” Hernandez said.
