Morris Fierberg Student Film Award

Background

The Morris Fierberg Student Film Award was established in 2004 in memory of Morris Fierberg, a long time member and volunteer of the Rehoboth Beach Film Society. The purpose of this award program is to encourage student film production by acknowledging the outstanding work of a student film director. The award will provide a $1,000 cash prize to the Winner. The Honorable Mention student will receive a $250 product/service gift. This Award will be available to full-time high school or undergraduate students from the United States. Award recipients will be announced in October each year. (Click here to donate to the Morris Fierberg Student Film Award.)

2009 Winner

Dena Greenbaum is the 2009 recipient of the Morris Fierberg Student Film Award for her film titled Blues. Blues was selected as the winning film out of nine submissions representing six states. Blues is a short film about two boys, one African American and one Jewish, growing up in Crown Heights and bonding over their love of music (2009, Runtime: 13 minutes).

Dena is a senior at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, majoring in Film & Television and minoring in Producing, Business, and the Business of Entertainment Media and Technology. She was thrilled to have it selected as the winner of the Morris Fierberg Student Film Award. In the future, she hopes to start a production company and further pursue her passion for directing films.

The Honorable Mention recipient is Ben Carey for his film titled White Cane. White Cane is a short film that makes audiences appreciate the fragility of the human body by exploring the process of a man slowly losing his vision (2009, Runtime: 8 minutes). Ben attends New York University, and is majoring in Film & Television.

To Participate

In order to participate in the Fierberg Award competition, the entry must:

1. Include a completed Fierberg Award application (Click here to download the application)

And

2. Meet the following Fierberg application requirements:

The applicant must be the director of the film.

The applicant must be a registered, full-time high school or undergraduate student at the time of the film’s production.

The applicant must maintain full-time residence in the United States. A supervising faculty member must endorse applicant’s entry form.

The competing film(s) must have been made during the preceding period of September 1 and June 15.

Dramas, comedies, documentaries and experimental films are all eligible. However, purely animated films are not. Judges reserve the right to decide on a film’s eligibility based on these guidelines.

Eligible films are those in which every major crew position was held by a student. Productions in which a non-student, professional, or a faculty member served as a cinematographer, camera operator, sound recordist, editor, lighting director or screen writer are not eligible.

Entries should be no longer than 30 minutes in length . Longer films must be cued to an appropriate starting place because only 30 minutes of each submission will be viewed.

Entry deadline: All submissions must be received at the RBFS office by June 15.

The winner and the honorable mention will be notified by September 1.

Awards will be distributed at the Opening Night event of the Annual Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival. The winning entry will be shown at the Film Festival; the honorable mention film may be selected for festival screening.

Entries must be on DVD, VHS or ¾” videotape and labeled with name, address, phone number and film title.

Download the Fierberg Award application

To Donate

The Film Society invites film enthusiasts, supporters of the Film Society, and friends of Morris Fierberg to make donations to the Morris Fierberg Student Film Award. It is through donor generosity and the future generosity of others, that the Film Society will be able to continue Morris’ commitment to youth and the art of filmmaking.

If you are interested in making a donation to the Morris Fierberg Student Film Award, please contact Sue Early at (302) 645-9095, or by e-mail: sue@rehobothfilm.com, or send a check to RBFS, 107 Truitt Ave., Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971. All donations are tax deductible. Your support is appreciated.