Carson Film enjoys success on film festival circuit

Stephen Hailo (left) and Kasey Halvorson star as Harman and Grace Doski in The Healing of Harman. Photo by Jordan Opp.
Stephen Hailo (left) and Kasey Halvorson star as Harman and Grace Doski in The Healing of Harman. Photo by Jordan Opp.

Carson Film enjoys success on film festival circuit

calendar icon13 Sep 2019    

Lincoln, Neb.--The most recent film in the Carson School Film Series, "The Healing of Harman," has enjoyed success with several awards and entry into several film festivals since its premiere last fall in Lincoln and Los Angeles.

“I had more than 20 mentees, including three students that I promoted to producers, and I would tell them ‘Awards are never the goal, but they get your work seen, which leads to other work,’” said Julie Uribe, a lecturer in the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film who served as executive producer and co-wrote the screenplay.

The film began the film festival submission process in January and will continue until the end of December. They will continue to get notifications from festivals well into 2020.
    
"The Healing of Harman" has been officially selected by 25 film festivals and has won 10 short film awards, including Drama Short winner from the Independent Short Awards and Narrative Short Winner from the International Independent Awards.

The film has also received five Telly Awards in the 40th annual Telly Awards competition, including a gold award in the category of Non-Broadcast General—Social Responsibility and a silver award in Non-Broadcast Craft—Writing. It also received bronze awards in the categories of Non-Broadcast General—Diversity & Inclusion, Non-Broadcast General—Not-for-Profit and Non-Broadcast General—Social Issues.
    
More than 12,000 entries from all 50 states and five continents are received for the Telly Awards. Founded in 1979, the Telly Awards honor video and television made for all screens.
    
“From Las Vegas to Washington, D.C., and across the Atlantic, 'The Healing of Harman' will be seen across the country and around the world,” Uribe said.
    
Some of the notable film festivals the film has been selected for have included:
• Hoboken International Film Festival (N.J.), one of the country’s largest film festivals
• Breckenridge Film Festival (Colorado)
• San Antonio Film Festival
• SENE Film Festival, one of the largest film festivals in New England
• Las Vegas International Film Festival
• West Europe International Film Festival in Brussels, Belgium
• The Global Impact Film Festival in Washington, D.C.
• The Compassion Film Festival in Carbondale, Colorado

The Johnny Carson Foundation provided support for submitting the film into these festivals.
    
“After our last Los Angles screening in December, Allan Alexander of the Johnny Carson Foundation offered a separate festival budget so that the film and the student’s work could be seen as far and wide as possible,” Uribe said. “He was thrilled about the message of the film and the level of professionalism. The foundation has afforded us a chance to extend the learning experience past the production and post-production phase.”
    
"The Healing of Harman" is a story about a Kurdish interpreter living in Lincoln, Nebraska, who meets a mysterious man from his past who asks for help with life and death consequences. While not autobiographical, the film is based on stories told to Uribe by Harman Doski, a local refugee from Iraq.
    
Directed by Seth Pinsker, who has received more than 50 major national and international awards for his creative work in film, television, commercials and branded content, including an Academy Award Nomination for Best Short Film (Live Action), the film’s cast and crew included around 75 students, faculty, alumni and professionals.
    
The Carson School Films give students and faculty in the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film the opportunity to work with film industry professionals to create a 20- to 25-minute short film. The objective is to provide students with an opportunity to work directly with faculty and outside professionals to create a professional production that is larger and broader in scope than can reasonably be expected of students working independently.