Members of S.T.A.R.S. with Lt. Governor Kottkamp and State Film Commissioner, Lucia Fishburne

On Monday, August 4th, several middle and High School Students made a stop in Jacksonville as part of their STARS Mission International. These students are making the circuit of the State of Florida learning about film and television production in the various state regions. The stopped in Jacksonville on Monday, Tallahassee on Tuesday, and have stops through the week in Orlando, Tampa, and Miami.


While visiting Jacksonville the students had a personal audience with Jacksonville Film and Television Commissioner, Todd Roobin. After visiting with Todd, they went on tours of the Norman Studios, the only still standing complete studio lot from the silent film era, and also toured the Digital Video Arts studios. The students also had a meeting with local Emmy Award winning Producer/Director Bryan Hickox.



Mac McDonald, past president of the FMPTA-JFC, was asked to put together an evening event for the students featuring local filmmakers and some of the short films produced for the Jacksonville 48 Hour Film Project. With only a few days notice, Mac was able to gather Acting Coach, Cindy Hogan (FMPTA member), Producer/Director Thomas Phillips (from L.A.), Casting Director, Rita Manyette (FMPTA member), local filmmaker Chris Boivin (FMPTA member) and the cast and crew from the Jacksonville 48 Hour Film Project team “Somebody Call An Ambulance”.



The students got a great amount of information from the panel of experts and enjoyed four of the short films from this year’s 48 Hour Film Project. The films were able to be seen in great part to Sight and Sound Audio Video Productions saving the day. Alfredo Garcia and Jennifer Wertley at Sight and Sound donated an LCD projector and the accompanying speaker and cables.



Next stop was Tallahassee where the students had a lively discussion, followed by photos, with Lt. Governor Kottkamp and Lucia Fishburne, State Film Commissioner. The Lt. Governor encouraged them to pursue their careers in Florida to help us grow the industry in the state. After a quick tour of the Governor’s Office of Film and Entertainment (OFE) where they met the staff and received OFE swag bags, they headed off for the next leg of their adventure.



To learn more about S.T.A.R.S please visit: www.stars4him.com.