Photo courtesy of CSULB.
He is quite possibly the most well-known alumnus of Long Beach State (CSULB)—and despite the fact that it took him 33 years to complete, Steven Spielberg did finally graduate with a bachelors in film in 2001.
That amusing tale of one of the world’s most iconic film directors became the muse of current CSULB music student Joshua Hoh, who created a 21-minute filmic take on the adventure called Steven Spielberg and the Return to Film School. And in a competition which saw 154 entries from 16 CSU campuses across the state, Hoh’s film garnered him two major awards from the CSU Media Arts Festival.
Return to Film School not only took top honors in the narrative category, providing Hoh with the Rosebud Award and a $500 check, the film also scored the Audience Choice Award, providing Hoh another $500. Additionally, his honors garnered $500 for the CSULB Film & Electronic Arts Department.
The film—something Hoh admits he’s obsessed over for the past three years—was shot over the course of five days last January at 20 locations across CSULB and Long Beach. After that—and being the music-oriented guy he is—he worked with the CSULB orchestra to add an extra flair.
“Following production, I raced to complete the film with the help of my composer,” Hoh said. “And to top it all off, we had the pleasure of recording the final three-minute piece of the film with the CSULB Symphony Orchestra, made up of 80 of CSULB’s finest musicians. As a music minor myself, it was truly a dream come true to bring the film and music departments together for this project.”
The Media Arts Festival is now in its 23rd year, honoring students—despite major—who create film, video and interactive media works. Students compete in nine categories—animation, documentary, experimental, interactive, music video, narrative, television, feature screenplay and short screenplay—and then judged by a panel of media industry experts.
In addition to Hoh, CSULB also scored two other awards at the festival: film student Viki Lopez earned first place in the short screenplay category for her submission titled Emotional Coup while Mark Ashmore took second place in the same category for Bar Again.