Watching the nominees for SunDeis' Best in Show award on Sunday, I knew the jury faced a difficult choice. Commitment, by Stefan Glidden of Boston University, was the most comedic of the nominees, and possibly the most original, too. Obsessive girlfriends are not uncommon plot devices, but I can't recall one as domineering as the one in Commitment. The combination of the desperate boyfriend, his imperious girlfriend and a sly, albeit tactless, bartender who offered strategies on how to escape a prison of love made Glidden's short a worthy recipient of the prize.However, I could not overlook the best dramatic entry. Can We Talk? by Amir Noorani of Cornell University featured a strikingly pretty girl who suffered her parents' forceful prescription of traditional South Asian familial customs, though she prefered to live by the American customs she and her friends appreciated. Can We Talk? featured the best acting of the scripted Best in Show nominees, and it reminded me of the recent popularity of Bollywood directors like Gurinder Chada, who has won fans here with Bend it Like Beckham and Bride and Prejudice. So I left the screening half expecting Noorani's film to take top honors, but Glidden's picture was an equally deserving choice.

Of the many other prizes, the one for best documentary deserves scrutiny. While there was no surprise for Best in Show, the prize for outstanding documentary was a travesty. The Not So Silent Generation, Seth Bernstein's '06 10-minute recap of the January 1969 takeover of Ford Hall, was not a deserving winner. Greek Light-a fascinating look at the lives of local fishermen on Mykonos, an Aegean island known better for its skyline of blanched hotels and nightclubs filled with jet-setting vacationers-was the strongest of the nominated films. Window Shopping, Eric Strauss' '05 humorous account of his semester in Barcelona, was a strong candidate, too. But awarding Bernstein for a cursory look at one of the most detailed chapters in Brandeis' short history smacked of lip service to the history of the festival's host when another aspiring filmmaker should have received this prize.