Community and Events

As a major sponsor for the Syracuse International Film Festival, we not only promote the festival, but strive to expand its audience and broaden the minds of audience members. The Syracuse International Film Festival Outreach Committee is committed to getting local city high schools involved in the festival in the hopes that students will view film differently and with an open mind. We have provided high schools with free tickets for students to encourage them to go in the hopes that they will be exposed to new kinds of film and inspire a sort of “conversation” between a film and the minds of its viewers. The festival is a perfect opportunity to educate students about the films that aren’t in commercial theaters and to teach them to view a film as more than simple entertainment.

Recently, Le Moyne College sponsored an essay contest for Corcoran High School for the second time, with a first, second, and third place prize for the best essay written about a film from the SIFF. Last year, two film minor students, Kerry Delduchetto (a religious studies and education student) and Liza LaLomia (an English literature student) visited Corcoran to teach the students about film. Following that, in 2007, Jim Fleury and Ricky Vernetti (both English majors) continued the outreach endeavor; students next year will have the opportunity to teach the high school students about film and its unique language before the festival.

The prize for first place, $300 or an Ipod, was generously provided by Le Moyne’s education program, along with a second and third prize.

Click here to view the winning essay.

Le Moyne has also hosted open pre-screenings for the Syracuse International Film Festival; in the fall, candidate films are shown and viewers are given short surveys in which they are asked to rate the film and offer brief criticism. The festival has a panel of pre-screeners, among which are our own Orlando Ocampo and Daryl Cauterine, Julie Grossman, Phil Novak and Mirielle Goodisman, but everyone is welcome to attend the pre-screenings!

We have also hosted educational forums as part of the Film Festival, starting in 2005 with the African Film Forum. Since then we have hosted the panel discussions for “Politics in Film,” “Music, Sound & Film,” and most recently, “Youth and Genocide.” The panel discussions typically run from 9am-3 or 4 pm (with a break in between for lunch), often featuring special guests.

Le Moyne has also sponsored two prizes for the best films at the film festival: the Peace and Global Studies Program sponsored the prize for the best Mideastern film, and the prize for the best African film was sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Affairs, Le Moyne's Film Program, Film Club.

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The film program (housed in the English Department), in collaboration with other departments, has been responsible for bringing many special guests to Syracuse. In Fall 2005, we hosted Russel Banks ("Affliction", "The Sweet Hereafter", "The Darling" among others), an acclaimed author who presently holds the title of New York State Author. On Feb 15th, 2007, Le Moyne College was responsible for bringing Paul Rusesebagina to the Palace Theater in Syracuse. Rusesabagina, the hero on which the movie "Hotel Rwanda" is based on, gave a riveting lecture on his experiences during Rwandan Genocide to a standing-room-only audience. On September 23-24, 2007, acclaimed silent-film composer Donald Sosin and vocalist Joanna Seaton came to Syracuse and Le Moyne to score the classic film King Kong (1933) at The Palace Theater, to run a workshop for Syracuse city high-school students on how to score film, and to speak to Le Moyne's film, music, and gender and women's studies students about film and music. Read the Post-Standard article on the high-school seminar at http://www.syracuse.com/poststandard/stories/index.ssf?/base/living-4/1190797294150710.xml&coll=1 and visit Donald's and Joanna's website at http://www.silent-film-music.com/