Over the weekend, Penn State sports journalism students found themselves back in England just over a year after visiting London to produce a film that focuses on passionate NFL fans in Great Britain. This time, they were watching the final product being showcased on the big screen.
“Quiet Sundays” received the award for “Editing in a Documentary” at the Southampton International Film Festival, which took place from Oct. 17-21. The film came from a 10-day, on-location working trip by students in the Curley Center, who covered two NFL games at Wembley Stadium in 2017.
"The organizers at Southampton International Film Festival did a fantastic job and our undergraduates really took advantage of this incredible student engagement opportunity. I'm happy to see our crew get credit for all the hard work they did on 'Quiet Sundays,' and it's gratifying simply to know that people like the film,” said John Affleck, the Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society and director of the Curley Center. "While the real reward of such a project is doing the project, watching this run of success is certainly nice."
This comes as the latest accolade for “Quiet Sundays,” which was honored as “Best Student Film” in a monthly competition sponsored by the Online Film Festival earlier this year and was nominated for a Mid-Atlantic Emmy as a university student production. The film was also selected for the Lake Charles Film Festival in Louisiana, which took place Oct. 5-6.
In addition, the film was recently accepted into the Pittsburgh Shorts Film Festival and will screen at 8 p.m. Nov. 15 at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater. For more information, or for tickets, visit the festival’s website.
“I think it’s validation that when the Bellisario College, Penn State and the professors all put a ton of effort into this, along with students being enthusiastic about it, you can create something really cool,” said Paddy Cotter, a junior journalism major from Roanoke, Virginia, who served as editor of the film.
The Curley Center, created in 2003 and housed in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, explores issues and trends in sports journalism through instruction, outreach, programming and research. The Curley Center complements its core courses with an emphasis on internships and hand-on experience with broadcast, multimedia and print outlets as well as with league, sport and team publicity operations.