April 5, 2010

A documentary by four alumni of the Teledramatic Arts and Technology Department at CSU Monterey Bay has won an award at the International Family Film Festival.

Juan Ramirez, Stephen Sprague, Ashley Paolini and Isaac Castro – all members of the Class of 2009 – won in the category of Best Student Documentary for "Concrete Paradigm," a film that features young detainees at Juvenile Hall in Salinas reading their poetry. The students taught a film workshop at Juvenile Hall in Fall 2008; that experience led to the documentary.

As part of the festival, "Concrete Paradigm" was screened at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood along with 86 other films from 14 countries and 15 film schools.

The festival celebrates cultural diversity, creativity, tolerance and global unity in its choice of family films and screenplays.