Formal dresses glittered as the lights dimmed and the host made a few opening comments at the Tivoli Theatre on Saturday night. But the awards ceremony that took place that evening did not do justice to the hours and hours of work put into the creation of the films submitted to the Broad Street Film Festival this year.

Last Thursday evening, students from Covenant descended to the Majestic theater for a showing of all the films contributed to the festival by students from Covenant, Southern Adventist University, Bryan College, Chattanooga State Community College, Lee University, and University of Tennessee Chattanooga. The films covered a wide range of styles, from documentaries and short films to a trailer and a couple of music videos.

On Saturday night, the directors, actors, writers, crews, and loyal fans reconvened at the Tivoli for the festival’s awards ceremony. Familiar Covenant band Raenbow Station kicked off the event with a performance of one of their more popular songs. After they had cleared the stage, the audience quieted in anticipation of the announcement of the awards and the performances from several other bands that were listed in the program.

Best Production Design went to Southern Adventist University’s film The Great Controversy. Best Original Score was awarded to Bryan College’s Untitled. Jeremy Morell received Best Actor for his role in Sound Off, and Jade Kilgore was given Best Actress for depicting a bullied teen in The Road Not Traveled. Best Trailer went, unsurprisingly, to Zombie College Trailer, the only trailer submitted to the festival, and Lebanon Mountain Trek received Best Documentary.

A film from Southern Adventist called Comatose garnered a large part of the awards, including Best Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Picture, and People’s Choice. Comatose won the Best in Fest award at the SONscreen Film Festival in Simi Valley, California, a few weeks ago, and according to the film’s Facebook page, will be shown at Chattanooga’s SHOW 2012 on May 2. Comatose’s director, Derek Taylor, also recently won Southern Adventist University’s School of Visual Art and Design award for Excellence in Directing and Cinematography.

Even with three films by Covenant students and alumni contributed to the festival, the only one to receive an award was Andrew Mollenkof’s Forget the Beans, which won the award for Best Music Video. Featuring a conglomeration of Covenant students and alumni, this music video was made for an accounting firm in Chicago, and “explores…accounting” through “the musical genre of rap,” according to the description in the festival’s program, which adds that the film is “fun, witty, and entertaining,” and certain to leave “people laughing and educated” by the time it is over.

Although only one Covenant film won an award, four of the awards given were presented by Covenant students. Senior Sophy Beers, one of the Covenant students selected to present an award, said that she thought the whole evening was really fun and “well-produced.”

“But one thing that was disappointing was that it wasn’t better attended — there were plenty of people to make it worthwhile, but…I wish more of the Covenant community had come out to support it,” said Beers.