Right Click > Find Date, a short film about online dating made by graduate students in a Department of Media, Film and Journalism studies documentary class, took home the prize for best student film at the Estes Park Film Festival on Sept. 18.
“We really enjoyed this one; it really stood out of all the student films,” says Sean Doherty, the festival’s executive director and one of its five judges. “It doesn’t really have a happy ending, of course, because it’s about a man trying to use online dating, not very successfully, but his perseverance throughout the film really drew us in and we wanted to root for him. That’s what helps make a great film. Even if it is a documentary, you can relate to the person and put yourself in his shoes.”
Co-directed by Pete Ellis and Keri Noll, the film features second-year grad student Jesus Sierra as he signs up for Match.com and documents his progress in the world of online romance.
Sierra says the award currently is sitting in the graduate lounge in the department of media, film and journalism studies, with plans to move it into the editing room where the team spent many hours putting the film together.