This year’s Ferris Video Film Festival kicks off at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 22 in IRC 120 with a show­ing of the film “Valley of Angels.”

“The Ferris Video Festival is an event for stu­dents and pro­fes­sion­als to find out more about the tele­vi­sion, film, and video indus­tries,” said Ferris Media Communication Association sec­re­tary and FSU junior in tele­vi­sion and dig­i­tal media pro­duc­tions Alex Purdy. “All atten­dees will gain a bet­ter knowl­edge of the industries.”

Fred Wyman, orga­nizer of the event in con­junc­tion with the Media Communications Association said this will be the tenth year of the Ferris Video Festival.

“This year the event will include the Thursday night screen­ing and a keynote pre­sen­ta­tion on Friday fol­lowed by con­cur­rent break-out ses­sions,” said Wyman.

The film, which is writ­ten, pro­duced and directed by for­mer Ferris tele­vi­sion pro­duc­tion grad­u­ate Jon Rosten, is about “a young drug dealer liv­ing the wild life in upscale West LA search[ing] for enlight­en­ment and a path out of his very dan­ger­ous world,” accord­ing to IMDB​.com.

Rosten, who cur­rently works for Warner Brothers in Hollywood, won three awards at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival for his movie.

On Friday, Rosten will be speak­ing in BUS 111 from 10 to 10:50 a.m. His keynote speech is enti­tled “Becoming an Indie Film Producer.” He will doc­u­ment his jour­ney in the tele­vi­sion and film indus­tries since he left Ferris for California. His speech is highly rec­om­mended for any­one intend­ing on a career in film or video and those study­ing film.

The break-out ses­sions tak­ing place after the keynote speech cover top­ics such as pro­duc­ing for TV net­works, free­lanc­ing for real­ity shows, west Michigan film pro­duc­tion, and advanced after-effects. Some of the speak­ers include Kevin Leeser, TVP grad­u­ate; Lale “Lolly” Arpaci, Hollywood pro­ducer; and Rick Hert from the West Michigan Film Office, among others.

The events of the fes­ti­val, which are all free, will take place on April 22 and 23 in the Business Building and the IRC. For more infor­ma­tion, con­tact Fred Wyman at wymanf@ferris.edu. For more infor­ma­tion about Rosten’s film “Valley of Angels,” check out IMDB​.com. n