Students win big at Foreign Language Digital Stories competition

Everyone left the Foreign Language Technology Center's Digital Stories Competition on Oct. 15 a winner. Students, faculty and parents attended the competition, which screened three films that students made to document their experiences studying abroad in Italy and Poland.

Wayne State student Caitlin Connor won the $100 prize for best script writing for her film documenting the slow food revolution. The film was set apart from the others in the competition by its poetic narration and its concentration on how the cooking element of Italian life is key to the lifestyle as a whole.

The film also featured several interviews with Italian natives. The interviews were lighthearted, amusingly stressing the importance of pasta in the Italian diet.

The judges awarded the prize for best cinematography to students Sarah Stawski and Rachel Steplowski for their film about the two week trip they took to Poland over the summer. The film gave a broader overlook of their trip including a stylized version of a luge ride the students took while visiting Zakopane, Poland.

Student Mike Peraino won two prizes at the competition, the $100 prize for best direction and a gift certificate to the Detroit Film Institute for the audience-chosen award for best in show. His film was an edited version of the film which he is producing for the Wayne State in Abruzzo program, the study abroad program which sends WSU students to the Abruzzo region in Italy.

The film featured beautiful shots of Italian buildings and landscapes accompanied by voiceovers providing interesting facts. The musical score was produced by Peraino himself and complimented the voiceovers and the cinematography very well.

Peraino said that the Wayne State in Abruzzo program, which he has participated in twice, has helped him tremendously with his Italian.

“Being in class is one thing, but getting out and just talking to a stranger about their life or their city is hard enough in your own language,” Peraino said. “But, in another language it makes you cross your comfort barriers, and that is a big step.”

Peraino was not the only person present at the competition to praise the new aspects that the competition brought to the study abroad program.

“This experience brings the study abroad programs a step further,” said Raffaele De Benedictis, a Wayne State Italian professor. “And it will be a great pedagogical experience for all students who participate in this unique initiative.”

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