BD
Benjamen DeVries
  • Engineering with an emphasis in General Studies Area.
  • Mitchell, South Dakota

Benjamen DeVries participates in Dordt College Prairie Grass Film Challenge

2014 Jan 23

High school students, college students, and adults competed in Dordt College’s whirlwind filmmaking competition, Prairie Grass Film Challenge, an event that has been issuing a creative challenge to aspiring filmmakers every year for eight years. Each year the number of teams competing grows, and the challenge expands into new territories.

Benjamen DeVries of Mitchell, South Dakota, competed with member of his team, JKH Films. DeVries is a senior at Dordt College majoring in engineering. He also has minors in the Kuyper Scholars Program and physics.

Because entries are submitted online, teams from all over the country are able to compete. This year, teams signed up from as near as Sioux Center, Orange City, and Hull, and as far as California, Colorado, and Missouri.

At the start of the challenge, teams are given a genre that they are required to work within and a character, line of dialogue, and a prop that they must incorporate into the story. After that the whirlwind filmmaking experience begins, with participants creating a five- to eight-minute film within a strict 48-hour time frame.

“The 48-hour competition is an adrenaline rush,” said Mark Volkers, Dordt College digital media production instructor and organizer of the Prairie Grass Film Challenge. The 48-hour challenge, which organizers deem a “sleep optional” event, was held Thursday through Saturday, January 16 to 18.

A free public screening and awards ceremony will take place Friday, February 21, on the campus of Dordt College. Check www.dordt.edu/filmchallenge for more information.

Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa, is a comprehensive Christian college rooted in the Reformed tradition. U.S. News & World Report, Forbes.com, Washington Monthly, and Princeton Review all list Dordt on their best colleges lists. Dordt is home to approximately 1,400 students. To learn more about Dordt College, visit www.dordt.edu.