NYU’s Daily Student Newspaper
washington square news Vol. 40, No. 27
Monday, March 5, 2012
nyunews.com
Festival celebrates female directors
Nation’s suicide rate higher than NYC’s
This year, only 5 percent of Academy Awards nominated films were directed by women. This statistic begs the question: Why is filmmaking such a boys club, and how can young filmmakers change it? This weekend’s Fusion Film Festival sought to address those questions and inspire female filmmakers to change that percentage. The Kanbar Institute of Film and Television at the Tisch School of the Arts put on its 9th annual Fusion Film Festival, which promotes the works of female filmmakers within NYU. The festival is a combination of screenings, panels with industry members and other film workshops. Tisch alumnae Gina Abatemarco and Emma Heald joined forces with alumnae from Kanbar while they were still undergraduates to create the festival.
A study done by the New York City Department of Health reported that New York City’s suicide rate is 50 percent lower than the national average. After analyzing New York City death records, hospitalization data and survey answers, researchers also revealed a 67 percent increase in suicides among Asian-American women while suicide rates were lowest among young adults, AfricanAmericans and Hispanics. According to the NYC Health Department, a potential cause for the decreasing suicide rates could be the harsher gun laws passed in the city during the mid-’90s. “We need and aim to do all we can to prevent these tragic events, including continuing our efforts to limit access to guns, create safer environments
By Keerthi Harishankar
By Sarah Skirmont
David Lin/WSN
Men’s basketball ended its NCAA Tournament run with a loss to Amherst College on Saturday night. Senior center Andy Stein played his final game as an NYU Violet.
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Tisch senior reaches final stages of global competition
Courtesy of Adam Butterfield
Adam Butterfield had the opportunity to interview Anderson Cooper in Your Big Year competition. By Brittany VanBibber NYU students gathered in Washington Square Park last Nov. 11 as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week. Of the 60,000 contestants competing in the week’s Your Big Year Competition, which promotes world travel and supports worldwide enterprise, 16 contestants have now been selected. Adam Butterfield, Tisch senior and intern at CNN Heroes, made it into the top 16 and
will be traveling to Liverpool, England for the Global Entrepreneruship Conference on March 5, when the winner will be announced. The grand prize includes a yearlong trip to five continents and meetings with multiple world leaders. Chris Arnold, founder and CEO of Smaller Earth, designed the Your Big Year contest and said he believes firmly in its mission. “If you think you can make a positive impact in business or media or culture or politics
or anything without having an appreciation for the other parts of the world, then you’re absolutely wrong,” Arnold said. “You need to travel. You need to go live and work and volunteer in other countries.” Butterfield shares this interest in world affairs. “On my 18th birthday I had never left the country, but I told myself that by the time I turned 30, I will have traveled
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Volleyball goes 2-1 in weekend matches By Sara Levy
NYU men’s volleyball won two out of three matches in non-conference play during the weekend. The Violets defeated Endicott College on Friday and Mount Ida College on Saturday, but suffered their first loss since Jan. 25 against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Violets began the weekend with a victory over the Endicott Gulls in four sets. The first two sets were close, but NYU closed out the last two 25-14 and 2515. Junior outside hitter Taylor Fauntleroy recorded a matchhigh 19 kills on 40 attacks, and freshman opposite/setter Matthew MacDonald made 14 kills and 9 digs. While Endicott setters senior Jeremy Schlosser and sophomore Carter Roche combined for 31 of the Gulls’ 35 total assists, Violets sophomore Connor Mortland recorded a match high of 49 assists. On Saturday the Violets traveled to nearby Cambridge, Mass., to compete in the MIT TriMeet. In the first match of the
day, NYU faced the Mount Ida Mustangs. The Violets earned their 10th consecutive victory by sweeping all three sets 2518, 25-9 and 25-8. Freshman outside hitter Arya Amirhekmat led the team with a careerhigh 11 kills. Sophomores Parker Kolodka and Nick Capriccio recorded six kills each. “Arya really played great and was efficient,” Capriccio said. “He is always a guy that works hard in practice and its great to see him have a good game.” NYU, ranked sixth nationally by the American Volleyball Coaches Association in Division III, knew their most daunting task of the weekend would be their match against the fifthranked MIT Engineers. Unfortunately, they lost in five tight sets by scores of 24-26, 26-24, 25-20, 23-25 and 10-15. Fauntleroy totaled 18 kills for the entire match. “Whenever you play against ranked opponents there is always an extra desire to beat
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