Rediscover Rosarito Project Recognizes Achivements By Students of 2009 Class

ROSARITO BEACH, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO---In a Sunday screening at Baja Studios the 10 students who participated in this year’s Rediscover Rosarito Film Project were honored and best films from the session selected.

Mayor Hugo Torres gave the welcoming remarks to those attending, and thanked both the participants and the organizers of the film project.

The seven-day filmmaking class was organized by Emerson College Professor Gregory Payne, who leads a project dedicated to conveying an accurate picture of the city in the United States. Students ranged from ages 17 to 28.

“You’re all leaders,” Payne told the student film makers Sunday night.

This year’s intensive class, the second annual, was led by independent Hollywood producer Michael McManus, who worked closely with students on scripts, production and editing of the short films.

Campus MovieFest, the world’s largest student film festival, provided HD Panasonic Cameras supplied cameras, Apple laptops, and other equipment for the local and high school and college students.

The LA Program, a private international student exchange, also assisted. Emerson College students and alumni also participate.

Payne and others donate their time for the class and there is no cost to students or to Rosarito. The Rosarito Beach Hotel donates facilities, lodging and food. Baja Studios, where Titanic and Master & Commander were filmed, donated it theater facility.

Taking the class this year were Armando Calderon, Viktor Gonzalez, Lucas Seamanduras, Alberto Martinez, Guillermo Jimenez, Antonio Mendoza, Dalia Salazar, Samuel Paredes and Michelle Hinojo.

Corina Martinez, who took the class last year, also participated and served as an assistant instructor.

Most students worked as two-person teams and produced six short films of several minutes each. A behind-the-scenes look at this year’s project also was produced and shown to the 80 people at the two-hour ceremony at the Baja Studios auditorium.

The best film award was shared by two works. One was Rediscover Rosarito by Hinojo and Parales; the other was Pasado Meridiana by Martinez and Jimenez.

Judging the entries were Payne; McManus; Janice Payne of the LA Program, Baja Studios manager Rolando Navarro; Pedro Rodrigues, a master’s candidate at Superior Escuela de Communicaciones in Lisbon, Portugal; and Ron Raposa, Rosarito’s international public relations representative.

The David Twomey Award for Creativity in Advocacy went to Paredes and Hinojo and the Michael McManus Acting Award to Calderon.

Payne, whose family has a vacation home in Rosarito and who has visited the city for years, said he started the RediscoveRosarito project because many people in the U.S. were not receiving a full and accurate picture of life in area.