We wrote about Campus MovieFest last month, a world-wide film competition that gives you a week to make a 5-minute movie. The winning films from NYU’s portion of the contest have now been chosen, and will go on to compete in the regional competition.

The Best Picture winner for the NYU segment was a noir film called The Price of Silence (embedded above). The director, Matt Lincoln, says he made it in his bedroom for $40, using AfterEffects and a green screen to create the comic-book feel of the film. “I gave the film a comic feel, first and foremost, because I love the look and you don’t generally see it in a low budget one-week festival. Beyond that, it allows a tremendous amount of freedom concerning 3D animation and virtual lighting.”

The winning drama was a short film called Leonard and Lola. It had some pretty cool red-tinged scenes that were shot in front of the Billards sign on 11th Street and 4th Ave. I liked it, and although a couple of people argued with me that there were plot holes, I still think it’s pretty impressive that the director basically created this movie by herself with 2 actors in a weekend.

The winning comedy was a fake commercial for a college dating website that made fun of romantic comedy cliches (eCollegematchmaking.com).

Audience members were also allowed to vote for their favorite film via text message. The winning film was Deuce, created by Local’s staff members Dan Rickmers and Andy Heriaud. Apparently some people didn’t think highly of it, but we’re still proud of them. Only talented filmmakers could write a 5-minute script about poo and still make it funny.

All four of these films will progress to the regional finals this Saturday (May 1) at the SVA auditorium.

There was also this really bizarre drama… no, comedy… no, parody… okay, I’m not really sure what it was, but it’s called Respira, and I’m giving it an honorable mention here. It starts off like a depressing drama, or a live-action version of Crime and Punishment, and quickly dissolves into a hilarious mess of lit-nerd quotes and Very Important Coincidences. I’m still not sure whether I’m supposed to take it seriously. Perhaps you can figure it out.