Friday, July 13 to Saturday, July 21, 2012; 6:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Location: Maine International Film Festival, 177 Main Street, Waterville, Maine

Contact: Donna Gold; 207-801-5623

Website: coa.edu, newsworthy.coa.edu/

BAR HARBOR, ME—Four COA animation students will have their work shown in the Maine International Film Festival in Waterville, Maine, this month. Three shorts will be part of the festival’s short films screening on Friday, July 13 at 6:15 p.m. and on Saturday, July 21 at 3:30 p.m., and a fourth will open the feature that is screening Saturday, July 14 at 6 p.m., Tuesday, July 17 at 9 p.m., and Friday, July 20 at 6:15 p.m.

The four students have been studying with Nancy Andrews, faculty member in performance art and video production, and a Guggenheim-award winning filmmaker. The animations all employ classic techniques of drawing, cut-out paper, animated objects, sometimes combined with computer techniques.

Here’s what’s on tap from COA:

“Buoy” by Robin Owings: This 7-minute digital projection is a multimedia animation exploring marine debris, loss and identity in the Gulf of Maine by COA rising senior Owings. It stems from summer research at COA’s Alice Eno Island Research Station on Great Duck Island off the coast of Maine. Owings’ project involved collecting, identifying, and cataloging the lobster buoys that had washed up on the island. Many drifted in from quite far afield—and their beauty, as captured by Robin’s camera lens, is quite surprising.

“From the Quotidian to the Universal” by Aja Mathews: This whimsical 2-minute animation by COA rising senior features a daydream which traces the creation of it all—from the quotidian to the universal, and back again. It was created from pen and ink drawings.

“Now You Know” by Lauren Benzaquen: This 4-minute digital projection by COA rising senior carries the following fascinating description: a night with a Ouija board reveals the bizarre death of a long lost relative.

“You’d Think We’d Never Stop Dancing” by Chalese Carlson ’12, a 3-minute digital projection. Says Carlson, “This animation was inspired by my fascination with communication not only at the cellular level, but also the pheromonal and cerebral level. The more closely I looked at the things that we consider individual and indivisible, the more profoundly obvious it became that there is no escaping connectivity. Sometimes the connections are physical, sometimes the connections are abstract.”

The Maine International Film Festival, also known as MIFF, features nearly 100 films and 50 filmmakers in 10 days. Founded in 1998, it represents “the best of American independent and international cinema. We also spotlight some of Maine and New England’s most exciting and innovative filmmakers.”

College of the Atlantic was founded in 1969 on the premise that education should go beyond understanding the world as it is, to enabling students to actively shape its future. A leader in experiential education and environmental stewardship, COA has pioneered a distinctive interdisciplinary approach to learning—human ecology—that develops the kinds of creative thinkers and doers needed by all sectors of society in addressing the compelling and growing needs of our world. For more, visit www.coa.edu.