HIGH POINT, N.C., Feb. 20, 2012 – Brad Lambert, assistant professor of new media in the Nido R. Qubein School of Communication at High Point University, is gaining attention – thanks to his animated short that is being screened and winning awards at many film festivals. At the recent Oxford Film Festival, held in Oxford, Miss., his film, “Gilded Aged Gladiator,” received the special jury citation for an animated short.
The Oxford Film Festival, a regional fest that attracts films from around the globe, screens and bestows awards in categories including narrative, documentary, animation and experimental film.
Lambert served as writer, co-director, animator and voice-actor in the 11-minute documentary that recounts the career of 19th-century boxer John L. Sullivan. Using animated characters, the film details Sullivan’s rise from bar room brawler to America’s first sports celebrity. Lambert animated the film with the same digital tools that he teaches students to use in his Motion Graphics course at HPU.
Since last fall, the film has screened in a variety of festivals, winning awards at the Dragon*Con Independent Film Festival and the Philadelphia Film & Animation Festival.
“Animated documentaries are a bit of a novelty,” Lambert says. “Festival directors have some flexibility on how they categorize us, so we’ve been able to screen at a diverse mix of festivals, some focused on animation, some on documentary.”
The film will also be screened at the Carolina Film and Video Festival in Greensboro, as well as the Charlotte Film Festival, where it has been nominated for Best Animated Short.
At High Point University, every student receives an extraordinary education in an inspiring environment with caring people.℠ HPU, located in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina, is a liberal arts institution with over 4,200 undergraduate and graduate students at campuses in High Point and Winston-Salem. It is ranked by US News and World Report at No. 3 among Regional Colleges in the South. Parade Magazine lists HPU in the top 25 private schools in the nation. HPU was selected in the 2010-2011 list of “Colleges of Distinction,” as well as one of the top green schools in the country by the Sierra Club. The university offers 44 undergraduate majors, 40 undergraduate minors and 10 graduate degree programs. It is a member of the NCAA, Division I and the Big South Conference. Visit High Point University on the Web at highpoint.edu.
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Pam Haynes
Communication Specialist
336-841-9055
[email protected]