The results for the 2013 Sprite Films nationwide film competition are in and Elon University alum Dean Coots’ submission, titled “Break the Night,” won both the Green Ribbon Panel Award and Fan Favorite Award, making it the first double winner in the program's history, Sprite Films announced today.
After winning the Green Ribbon Panel Award, senior Dean Coots — the film's director — will receive a $30,000 contract job to work alongside Sprite and The Coca-Cola Company brand executives to develop content. The Fan Favorite Award has earned Coots a special trip to attend AFI Fest, the American Film Institute's festival from Nov. 7-14 in Los Angeles. Additionally, Sprite is donating $5,000 to Elon's School of Communications.
Voting closed Aug. 31 for the film, and the cast, crew and fans had to wait more than a week for the results to be available. Elon had competition in three other schools who participated: Columbia College Chicago, Savannah College of Art and Design and University of California, Los Angeles.
Up until the very end, SCAD and Elon switched between first and second.
“Voting has been very exciting,” Coots said. “The support we have received from friends, family and the entire Elon community was better than we were expecting.”
“Break the Night” brought a small group of Elon students together to create a product that had the ability to benefit the entire Elon community.
“My favorite part was the family atmosphere within the crew,” said senior Becca Rubin, public relations co-director. “I made so many friends and learned from extremely talented students. I feel honored to be a part of such amazing work.”
The film has become much bigger than a campus project. To find the perfect dancers, senior Ja’Mei Bess, casting director, reached out to surrounding communities.
“I first heard about the opportunity to audition for this film on a page called ‘NC B-boys’ on Facebook, where most of the B-boys in the community can be found,” said dancer Brandon Crimmons. “After seeing this, I jumped straight into the process of setting up an audition to get this part.”
Coots said the dancers brought an exciting atmosphere to the film.
“Getting to watch the break dancers spin and flip was a treat in itself,” Coots said. “The show they put on for us was something most people would have to pay for.”
According to Coots, the students involved were remarkable enough to be coined “The Dream Team” by Paul Castro, their faculty adviser.
“I chose a team of student filmmakers from Elon whose work I admired,” Coots said.