On Friday, December 9th, the New Venture Development Students (ENTR 485) competed in a short film contest, showing off their ideas and innovations which they have worked on this past semester. The film festival took place at the Loft Cinema on Speedway.
Students who weren’t competing from the classes were there to vote on the winning projects, as well as show support for their peers. There was one team shown per class, and the peer evaluated competition ranged from “Best Screenplay” to “Most Dramatic Performance.” There were also three judges who elected their top three contenders, which each won a cash prize.

Among the competition for the people’s, one team consistently ranked the highest: Mangia. Mangia is an app students came up with to help explore restaurants nearby that take into account your dietary restrictions. The team had a fun and informative video explaining the app and its abilities.

Another team did well both by their peers and for the judges. They received third place from the judge’s perspective. This team’s innovation was called Plant-E, a robot designed to help you take care of your plants. The group had an extremely creative video, and did a great job answering the judges questions and gave a great background as to why this product would be helpful.

In second place was Walk the World, an app designed by students to assist study abroad students, or just travelers in general, about different costumes in the countries they’re visiting, common phrases, recommendations, and more. This app would definitely be used by so many students who travel around the world and would be an efficient way to have everything in one place when researching basics about where your travels take you.

Overall, there was one development project that won over the judges with their informative video and commitment to detail, whether that’s funding needed or design elements. This team was Bukd. Bukd is an app designed to help local businesses looking for entertainment for their bars/ restaurants, and can help both the business and the talent connect efficiently. The team included DJ Max Wicklund, and had clips of The Hawthorne Experience, a band with U of A students in it, as a part of their presentation.

The New Venture Development students really had a moment to shine at the short film fest, and it gave insight to what the new generation of students and entrepreneurs could bring to the table. There are so many creative ideas and exploits out there, and many of them are coming from our very own school.
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