Last Spring Sean Cunningham and Justin Hartough were classmates in Cinema 451: Advanced Film and Video Making. There in the Binghamton University lecture hall basement, the two practiced their craft with dreams of breaking into the film industry. Just five months later both are prize-winning filmmakers. Separately and unknowingly, Cunningham and Hartough entered a competition to find a new “I LOVE NY” TV commercial and both were recently chosen from a panel of judges that included Hollywood heavyweights such as actress and writer Tina Fey, director Doug Liman and actor and filmmaker Philip Seymour Hoffman. Cunningham, who graduated in May 2008, won the grand prize with his 60-second film titled “Discover a Different NY”. Hartough, a senior who plays an active role with Binghamton Television (BTV), won the Student Filmmaker Award with Crab Meadow, a short film inspired by a beach located in his hometown of Huntington LI. “I wanted to show New York as more than just New York City, but New York as just a beautiful place,” Hartough said. The idea was to create a short film that would powerfully reflect the “I Love NY” theme. Like Crab Meadow Cunninghams film does not include a single shot of the Big Apple, but instead captures the natural beauty of Upstate New York. It opens at a backyard graduation party, where a young man dressed in a Binghamton University cap and gown is asked what he plans to do now. The response – “I’m going to New York (city)”. The film then takes us …
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