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He created the most-watched video in Internet history, and Saturday (March 15) he’ll be performing at the BGSU Falcon Film
Festival.
Judson Laipply, whose “The Evolution of Dance” has been viewed by more than 100 million people since its debut on YouTube.com
in 2006, will emcee the fourth annual festival at the University.
The free, public event will be held in 101 Olscamp Hall, where the doors will open at 6 p.m. and eight films by first-year
BGSU students will be shown from 7-9 p.m. About 500 seats will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Laipply, an “inspirational comedian” and motivational speaker, will introduce the films as well as perform. “The Evolution
of Dance” landed him appearances on such television shows as “Today,” “Good Morning America” and “Inside Edition,” and in
publications including Time, USA Today and Rolling Stone. The Cleveland resident, who earned a master’s degree in education
from Bowling Green in 2000, has since founded Let’s Dance Media, a company that explores the use of new media and creative
content.
Filmed and edited during the first month of spring semester, the eight movies to be screened at the festival are five-to-eight-minute
glimpses of the student filmmakers’ first-semester experience at BGSU. They have been judged as the best among 13 submitted
by groups of four or five students each. That represents the most student participation in the event’s four years, said Michael
Hachtel, assistant director of residence life for information technology at BGSU and co-chair of the festival steering committee.
The committee reviewed the entries to ensure they followed the prescribed rules—no content beyond what would get a PG rating,
for instance—and sent those that did to the four judges who picked the winners, along with a Best Actor and Best Actress.
Those judges were Dr. Linda Dobb, executive vice president; Michael Griffel, director of residence life; Johnnie Lewis, president
of Undergraduate Student Government, and Thomas Hofbauer, a Toledo-based, independent filmmaker whose work includes the award-winning
“In the Company of Strangers.”
Each member of the first-place film’s production team will receive an iPod Touch, while a Nintendo Wii will go to everyone
on the runner-up team, and an iPod Nano to all members of the third-place group. The Best Actor and Best Actress will each
receive a seven-inch, portable DVD player.
Audience members can also win at the festival, which will offer raffles for gift baskets with assorted prizes.
The offices of the Chief Information Officer and Residence Life are primary campus contributors to the event. Apple and Coca-Cola
are also sponsors, as are BGSU’s Student Technology Center, BG Experience program, Residential Computing Connection and Resident
Student Association, which will broadcast the films on campus cable station WRSA after the festival. Kim Fleshman, program
coordinator at the Student Technology Center, is the other steering committee co-chair.
For more information about the festival, visit www.bgsu.edu/falconfilmfest. The top two films from each of the last three years can be seen at the site.
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