A Point Park University student film is a finalist for the 2012 Student Academy Awards by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Requited by seniors Mark Christian cinematographer and writer and Madeline Puzzo director and production designer is one of only nine films named as finalists in the narrative category. In all more than 560 films from students in 105 United States colleges and universities have been considered. “This visually stunning moving picture is a result of an intense collaborative process ” said Nelson Chipman chair of Point Park University’s cinema and digital arts department. Requited is an authentic Western. Using a crew of 20 including Point Park students and cast of more than a dozen Christian and Puzzo shot the 12-minute film this winter in Gammons Gulch in Benson Arizona and Old Bedford Village in Bedford Pennsylvania. The characters are based on those in a film Puzzo and Christian completed in 2011 The Kid. Requited is the senior thesis film for both students. Christian from McLean Virginia will graduate with a concentration in cinematography. Puzzo from Tuscon Arizona will graduate with a concentration in directing. Chipman says having Point Park University represented in the Student Academy Awards is an honor that reflects the program’s dynamic growth and students’ intensity and drive: “In many ways it reflects the ability of Point Park students to become skilled and well crafted in their concentrations. By the time they are seniors here students have worked on more than two dozen movies each.” The Student Academy Awards are June 9 at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will name the top three films in each category prior to the event.
