The winning works from the Gollin Film Festival, sponsored by the University of Rochester's Film and Media Studies Program have been announced. The first prize winner is Jake Tishler for his film The Forgotten War. The second prize winner is Sefira Bell-Masterson and Eva Xie and Liz Lirakis tied for third prize.

Named in honor of Professor Emeritus of English Richard Gollin, the competition gives University of Rochester undergraduates the chance to gain recognition and present their works to a wide audience.

The films were judged by a panel of faculty members associated with the Film and Media Studies Program. First, second, and third place winners receive cash prizes. The works were created in a variety of formats, including mini-DV, VHS, DVD, and CD-R. Films receiving honorable mention will also be screened during the festival.

Gollin founded the film studies program at the University in 1976 with the assistance of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and headed it until his retirement in 1989. The author of A Viewer's Guide to Film: Art, Artifices, and Issues, Gollin also received recognition for his research and writings on Romantic poetry and the Victorian novel.

The program has expanded and is now called the Film and Media Studies Program and has two major tracks: film studies with a non-production emphasis and media studies with a production emphasis. A minor is also available. The program also administers a graduate student fellowship at the George Eastman House. The interdepartmental faculty of the Film and Media Studies Program is also a primary resource for the new collaborative master's degree program between the University's Department of English and the George Eastman House, The L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation.

The Gollin Film Festival is open to all University of Rochester undergraduate students. Students are asked to submit up to two works created since enrolling at the University of Rochester.

More information is available by contacting the Film and Media Studies Program (585) 275-5757.