In an evening that celebrated the legacy of Anglo-American cinema as much as works of student filmmakers, the comedic short Hit or Miss took top honors at the sixth SunDeis Film Festival awards ceremony Sunday night in Sherman Function Hall.In addition to the best picture prize, the humorous short film about low-level office workers who aspire to become hit men also won in the best screenwriting category, with its creators David LaCarubba and Michael Ouelette accepting both prizes. Ex Machina walked away with three awards-for best cinematagrophy, documentary and music-and Seth Berstein '05 won the "Best of Brandeis" category for The One I Love, a short film that was shot on and around campus last academic year.

But the festivities, unfortunately fraught by technical difficulties, kept one foot firmly grounded in cinema's past. Following brief introductions by Prof. Anita Hill (Heller) and Scott Feinberg '08, one of SunDeis' organizers, the evening truly began with a video retrospective of film's century-long history.

Lifetime-achievement awards were also presented to the actors Patricia Neal-best known for her roles in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) and A Face in the Crowd (1957), among other films-and Roy Scheider, who starred in All That Jazz (1979) and Jaws (1975), alongside montages of the two's most famous performances.

Neal, frail but speaking with the same staggering grace evident in her best roles, advised student filmmakers to "follow your passions as I did."

And Scheider said that actors, as well as other members of the movie industry, serve as essential storytellers in a strange world.

"If we don't talk to each other and tell each other our stories, I think we would go mad," he said.

Jeremy Larner '58, whose original script for The Candidate (1972) earned him an Academy Award, presented the award for best screenplay, recalling that as a freshman, he and many other students debated whether the film Birth of a Nation (1915), controversial for its glorification of white supremicism, ought to be screened at Brandeis. He said they eventually voted that it shouldn't, despite the objections of Larner and others on grounds of the film's value as a historical document.

Feinberg, who was the evening's host and weathered the technical gaffes, as well as a number of absent award winners by ad-libbing jokes, said in an interview Monday that SunDeis' organizers only had two hours to prepare for the ceremony.

"I was obviously disappointed we were not able to pull [the awards ceremony] off more smoothly," he said, adding that overall, he felt the weekend was successful. "If last night had been the only thing that Patricia Neal and Roy Scheider had been a part of, then I would be embarrassed. But . we had two outstanding programs with both of them that everyone in attendance was thrilled with."

Feinberg said the festival-now in its sixth year-enjoyed its best-attended film screenings yet, and that a panel discussion featuring alumni in the entertainment industry drew around 100 guests.

He acknowledged that the festival has changed significantly since two years ago, when he took SunDeis' reigns from Arnon Shorr '05, one of its founders, and that it now tries to balance the achievements of student filmmakers with a spotlight on the medium's history.

"No matter how original or creative you think you're being, you're being influenced by film history," he said. "People like Patricia Neal may not be around when today's student filmmakers are out .. making films of their own.