Freshman wins rare chance to work at Cannes International Film Festival Jacob Durrett of Battle Creek, Mich., closed out his freshman year in WMU’s School of Communication with a May trip to southern France and a stint working as an insider at the famed Cannes International Film Festival. Durrett, who began making films in high school and launched the Battle Creek Film Festival in 2006, was selected to be a festival participant earlier this year through the highly competitive Student Program of the American Film Pavilion. The American Pavilion has been the focus of the U.S. film industry’s presence at the Cannes International Film Festival since 1989. It serves as a communications and hospitality center for journalists, publicists, celebrities, filmmakers and motion picture executives working at the festival. For the past 19 years, the American Pavilion has offered film students the chance to participate in its student
CAMPUS PLACES
Kanley Chapel, the University’s interfaith facility, was built in 1951 with the help of the William Kanley Estate. Kanley had been a WMU student and his mother, Anna Carstens Kanley, had earlier contributed to the purchase in his memory of part of the land the current main campus occupies. Designed by architect Ralph C. Calder, the 11,393-square-foot-building is the site annually for a wide array of events ranging from baptisms and weddings to memorial services. At times of national crisis, like the evening of Sept. 11, 2001, it has been a gathering spot for students, faculty, staff and friends of the University. A major feature of the chapel is a set of stained glass windows, with 73 individual panes. The first windows were designed by students under the tutelage of art instructor Hazel Paden and executed under the direction of art instructor Lydia Siedschlag. Those original windows and a group of windows added to the chapel at a later date, represent the only known student-designed stained glass windows in any U.S. campus chapel.
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program, which allows student to stay in Cannes for the duration of the festival, participating in educational workshops, seminars, pitch sessions, roundtable discussions and screenings. Approximately 140 students are accepted each year. Because the festival is not open to the public, this work-study program is highly competitive. “Jake showed great passion for film and video from the first week I met him fall semester,” says Dr. Jennifer Machiorlatti, associate professor of film, video and media studies at WMU. “He edited the final video of our alumni keynote speaker Ed Gordon, and he demonstrates such potential. This was really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for him. There were students from all the major film schools, many of them at the Master of Fine Arts level. I am proud that he represented Western Michigan University.”