It’s the time of year when Hollywood honors the best of the best in film with the Oscar. In the spirit of this season, The Auburn University Department of Communication and Journalism and the Auburn Film Society are offering young filmmakers the opportunity to exhibit their artistic talents. The Jay Sanders Film Festival will be held Monday, March 13th at the Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center from 7 to 10 p.m. The festival is open to the public and admission is free. Guests are asked to arrive early because seating is limited.
Each year, students from high schools and colleges throughout the world are invited to submit original short films for competition in the Movie Gallery Student Video Competition. The Jay Sanders Film Festival features the finalists of this prestigious competition. With the assistance of Movie Gallery the student video competition has grown from a small group of local entries into an international competition garnering over 100 entries annually. This year the Jay Sanders Film Festival has been chosen as a spotlight event of the University. What was once a small gathering of interested students and faculty has been transformed into a night at the movies for Auburn students and faculty, the Auburn community and the entrants into the competition.

Endowed by the Movie Gallery Corporation in 2001, the competition awards trophies and cash prizes to the winners. $1,000 is awarded to first place winners in the high school and college divisions, $600 is awarded to second place winners and $250 is awarded to the third place winners of both divisions. Even more importantly winners enjoy the honor and prestige of placing in a competition that is supported by one of the country’s largest video store franchises. The three finalists from each division not only receive prize money, but also their films are shown on coming attraction reels in every Movie Gallery store in the United States and Canada following the festival.
For additional information about the Jay Sanders Film Festival and the Movie Gallery Student Video Competition visit the Jay Sanders Film Festival website at http://www.auburn.edu/student_info/film or contact Nicole Cann, Public Relations Director, via e-mail at cannnic@auburn.edu or Jessie King, Film Festival Assistant Director, via e-mail at kingjes@auburn.edu.