Brandeis' first annual film festival, Sundeis, had it's closing ceremonies and award show last Monday night with Diana Buda winning Best in Show for her documentary Ain't No Cure for the Summertime Blues.Going into the ceremony, the three big nominees were Tom Toro of Yale for Devolving, Adam Blumenfeld '05 for Threshold and Dan Martin of Harvard for The Night Before with six nominations each. Najbarismo by Andrew Cleary of Boston University, The Making of Codes by Christopher O'Coin of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Of a Man by Tom Stylinski and Katy Jarzebowski each had five.

Marshall Herskovitz '73 opened the ceremony with a poignant speech about going from Brandeis to Hollywood. His story took him from being an ambivalent senior to a waiter and film student and finally, to a Hollywood producer. He also gave some appropriate advice to all of the hopeful filmmakers in the audience.

"Hollywood is like a bat mitzvah. For the longest time you are searching for something and then one day you become the future. You are given a purpose and role in the family. You get to go up and be somebody," Herskovitz said.

The first award for the night was for Best Supporting Actor, which went to Cassie Fliegel of Harvard for her role in The Night Before. Additionally, Therrien Dolby of the University of Massachusetts Amherst was awarded Best Actor in a Comedy for his role in The Making of Codes and Anthony Manna of Yale received the award for Best Actor in a Lead Role for his performance in Devolving.

There were also several awards for behind-the-scenes work on each of the films. Martin took home the award for Best Editing for his work on The Night Before. He was very pleased with the award because he feels editing is where he gets to do his best work. Best Sound Editing went to The Great Givendi, with Martin was also involved with.

Awards were also handed out for the three major sub categories of film - documentary, comedy, and drama. Winning the award for Best Documentary was Buda with Ain't No Cure for the Summertime Blues; for Best Drama was Toro with Devolving; and Best Comedy went to O'Coin for The Making of Codes.

A special award was given out to a of the Brandeis filmmakers and was presented by Herskovitz, who said "he was pleased to usher in the next generation of rebels." The award went to Blumenfeld for Thresholds.

Finally, there were three special awards given out to the filmmakers. The first was for "Promoting Positive Social Change", which was awarded to Najbarismo and it's production staff. The award for "Pushing the Boundaries of Cinema" was awarded to Stylinsky and Jarzebowski for Of A Man. Finally, the award for "Outstanding Technology" went to Michael Freeman of the Rochester Institute of Technology for his animated short J and J Exterminators.

At the end of the night, Devolving came away with the title for most awards, garnering three, with The Night Before, The Making of Codes and Ain't No Cure for the Summertime Blues each bringing home two awards.

The ceremony and the festival was a huge success, especially considering it is the first year of operation. Sundeis received 68 entries from 18 New England and mid-Atlantic colleges.

"I was very happy with how it went. The entire weekend was a success. I was a little nervous that we wouldn't get any good submissions, or any films at all. But when the deadline rolled around and we had 68 submissions I was ecstatic," said Dahlia Metchis '04, the event management coordinator.

The Festival was supported by many Brandeis alumni who spoke and gave seminars in addition to donating funds. Faculty members also helped to judge the Best in Show award making the festival an event that incorporated the entire Brandeis community.

The selection process for the coordinator of Sundeis 2005 will begin in the fall.