Paparazzi, tuxedos, awards and entertainment — it all sounds like a typical night at the Academy Awards, but on Friday, May 7, Biola had its own version of the Oscars for their annual Film Festival Awards Ceremony at the Downey City Theatre.

These talented Cinema Media Arts students spend much of their time inventing stories in their heads, spending weeks on end shooting for their film and hours in the production center editing until they feel they have it just right. This was a night to celebrate all the hard work that was put into each of these films and each student’s effort was completely evident when their work was displayed at the Festival.

The night was elaborately run, being produced by junior Ellie Pappuleas. The stage had a dazzling feel that complemented the entertainment well. The night kicked off with a classy dance number by Asher Entertainment that caught the audience off guard but prepared them for the extravagant night to come.

Actress and first award winner of the night for Best Lead Actor, Carolina Espiro, encouraged the students at Biola to “please take this passion to Hollywood.” Having worked for 10 years in Hollywood already, she encouraged the students to keep their passion and not to turn into a superficial generation where all they do is keep looking at their watch to wait for their time to go home.

Film students like to twist things up a bit and crack jokes even during their most formal event, as evidenced in the “Fist Full of Awesome” award given to Mitchell Calish, the freshman who was most involved with the film program. It is tradition for the previous year’s award winner to pass on the trophy, which is in the shape of a glass container big enough to fit their first in.

The awards ceremony itself was an elegant display of Biola’s film department.

“I was actually surprised of how elaborate the event was,” said sophomore Rob Scott. “It was quite an experience.”

“Burden of Proof,” written and directed by Nolan Geoff, was nominated for Best Lead Actor, Best Drama, Cinematography and Production Design — but didn’t win any. Geoff expressed his disappointment but said, “there are some fantastic films out there and there is always next year.”

“Burden of Proof” worked with a $2000 budget to completely set their film in 1959, which Geoff said was the most complicated aspect of the entire process.

“We had to have entirely specific costumes, a 1950s car, everything about the film had to be built, and something from 2009 or 2010 wouldn’t work,” Geoff said. “Hats off to Ben Winchell and Nick Chavez for making it look (like) 1959!”

“Right now, I feel [Nolan] has a great career ahead of him,” said Winchell, cinematographer for “Burden of Proof.” “We will definitely be seeing him as best director recipient in one of these next few years and probably an Oscar one day.”

“‘Burden of Proof’ is a good film and didn’t win any awards,” said Professor Dean Yamata of the CMA department. “The quality of the films is just really high — it’s really competitive.”

One of the most awarded films with five wins out of nine nominations was “Still,” directed by Felicia Heykoop. The film received amazing reviews from many viewers throughout the night.

“I feel like ‘Still’ took a lot more risk,” Geoff said. “I really enjoyed it.”

“I would have loved to [see] Still win best picture,” said junior Graham Alexander. “I know the amount of work that went into it, the story line grabbed me hard and it was very hard to watch — and if I know something is hard for me to watch, I know it’s good.”

“I love [it],” said Yamata. “It’s a great film, great crew, high production value. They built that bathroom from scratch!”

“It’s nice [to have won],” said “Still’s” cinematographer Ricky Norris. “Out of four years it is nice to win going out. I didn’t expect it!”

When asked what the hardest decision was for the making of the film was, he said, “trying to use color to show the emotions they are going through because they don’t say a whole lot in the film. I’m really happy with how it turned out.”

“It was not so much about a still birth,” said Heykoop. “This film is about their marriage because it’s really hard — it’s difficult and things that happen just blindside you.”

One of the most unique films was “Out of the Box,” directed by Nick Chavez, which was nominated seven times and took home the award for Best Picture.

“I am completely surprised,” Chavez said. “I’m so pleased with it. I had one of the greatest crews and greatest experiences; I learned so much. Overall, it was a huge blessing.”

When Chavez was asked if his life resembles his film, he responded by saying, “Absolutely! Being lost, bored, confused as a child and hoping for something magical when I can save someone’s life — absolutely!”

The film included a seven-year-old girl that Chavez described as “a very small adult and I am a very large child so it worked out perfectly.”

“Out of the Box [was my favorite film],” said Scott. “I had a class with the director. I really liked a lot of his work. It was different but impressing like a lot of the films were tonight.”

With another year until the next awards festival, only time will tell what Biola students have to offer. Some things are for sure though: Biola films are only getting better as the years go on, students are becoming more passionate and their amazing talents are always reflected in their masterpiece films that are appreciated by many.