Rowan filmmakers receive two national Gracie Awards

 

Cindy Lewandowski is a video production assistant for Thomas Jefferson University.

Tom Finer is a web content producer for Comcast SportsNet.

Susan Mariduena works as an assistant editor in New York City on "The First 48" on the Arts & Entertainment network.

Harry Fleckenstein is a production assistant/associate producer on Kitchen Impossible on the Do It Yourself Network.

And Colleen Kay? She's a casting assistant at Heery Casting in Philadelphia.

Today, these Rowan University alumni are completely immersed in their budding film and production careers. But on June 4, they'll reunite in New York City to represent Rowan once again when they claim two prestigious national awards from American Women in Radio & Television (AWRT).

The five alumni, all radio/television/film (RTF) majors who earned their bachelor's degrees from Rowan in 2008, will accept two Gracie Awards from AWRT during a luncheon at New York City's Tavern on the Green.

In the Gracies' student category, the group will receive awards for Outstanding Feature-Soft News Program for "Sexual Assault: It's Not OK" a public service documentary on sexual assault, and for Outstanding Documentary-Mid-Length Format for "Movement X: Celebration of an Ending," which focuses on the ups and downs of a color guard unit.

During the 34th annual Gracie Awards, which recognize exemplary programming created for women, by women and about women in all facets of media and entertainment, the Rowan group will share the spotlight with Barbara Walters, Katie Couric, Kathy Griffin, Maya Angelou and Miley Cyrus, all of whom will be honored.

Established in 1975, the Gracie Awards honor the legacy of legendary entertainer Gracie Allen.

The Gracies are the sixth and seventh received by the University and the second and third ever won by Rowan's nationally recognized television program. Each film has won two other awards in competitions.

"It's Not OK" won "Best TV Feature" for Region 1 in the 2008 Society of Professional Journalists' Mark of Excellence Awards and also took third place in the "Best Documentary" category of the 2008 Greater Philadelphia Student Film Festival."

"Movement X" won "Best Documentary" at the DownBeach Film Festival last year and took third place in the "Student Documentary" category of the national 2009 Broadcast Education Association Festival of Media Arts.

"It's Not OK," which was filmed as a public service to be shown to college students throughout the state, was Lewandowski's first foray into producing a film. The crew received sound advice and guidance, personally and professionally, from RTF Professor Diana Nicolae, says Lewandowski, who served as producer for both films.

The guidance from Nicolae, herself an established filmmaker in addition to her work as a professor, was particularly important to the female filmmakers, who are working in a field that's still traditionally male, Lewandowski says.

The films were created for Nicolae's Television 2 (Fall, 2007) and Documentary Production (Spring, 2008) classes.

"She would talk to Susan and I and say, ‘Don't be afraid to do what you do. You guys have what it takes,'" Lewandowski says. "She's a strong woman and I think that's what she was trying to instill in us.

‘It's Not OK' was the first project I ever stepped up for in a leadership role and that was because of Professor Nicolae. It was the first doc I did that had real meaning."

The crew, nicknamed the "Dream Team" by Rowan Psychology Professor Lois Strauss, who served as the client for "It's Not OK," worked well together, Lewandowski says. Lewandowski, Finer (editor) and Mariduena (director) worked on both films, while Fleckenstein and Kay did the camera work on "It's Not OK" and "Movement X" respectively.

"Our crew was a diverse group," she says. "That's what made it great."

What made the crews successful, Nicolae says, is the way they banded together.

"Successful documentaries take more than just talent and technical expertise," says Nicolae. "They also take a real passion for the subject and a commitment to work tirelessly on a project.

"This team had that. It shows in the two projects they completed and I'm sure it shows up in the work they're doing now."

While the Gracies are a high honor for Rowan's television program, RTF students regularly win national awards for their work, particularly for the projects created in the Documentary Production course.

According to Nicolae, documentaries created in the class have won acclaim in national competitions and festivals in five of the last six years. Since 1990, Rowan video productions have won over 50 local, regional and national awards (www.rowan.edu/colleges/communication/departments/radiotelevisionfilm/awards2.html).

The program's winning tradition propels students to do their best work, according to Lewandowski, a Washington Township resident.

"You know that these docs go on to win awards," Lewandowski says. "That's always in the back of your mind. There's a lot expected of us.

"I can't comprehend that we've been out (of college) a year already," she adds. "This time last year, none of us had a life outside the documentary."

Finer grew up in Annandale, while Mariduena, who also earned her journalism degree from Rowan last year, with a minor in Spanish, is from Rahway. Fleckenstein is from Deptford and Kay is from Washington Township.



To view "It's Not OK," visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpXvbkx9Kd8.

Visit http://www.tomfiner.com/movementx/ to see "Movement X."