Montana student's film lands in national MTV movie competition

Earning a top 25 spot in MTV University’s national “Best Film on Campus” competition wasn’t a life-changing event for a Montana State University film student.

After all, he didn’t even know he had won until he happened to check the MTVU Web site. 

“I was surprised,” said filmmaker Nick Andrews, a MSU freshman. “I really wasn’t expecting to win anything.”

He said he wasn’t aware that MTVU had entered his film into the competition.

Andrews routinely posts comedy sketches and other films “all over the Internet,” including the MTVU site, and he guessed that they automatically entered him into the competition.

Once films are posted on the site, students vote to decide the grand-prize winner. Voting continues until April 28, at which point the top two winners will be flown to the MTV Movie Awards.

The grand-prize winner will receive the Golden Popcorn Award and a film development deal worth upwards of $10,000.

“We were blown away by the work we received in this years’ competition,” said Jason Rzepka, director of communications at MTVU. 

Over 2,000 filmmakers have entered the competition. So far, Rzepka said, Andrews is the first from Montana to be recognized.

Also, seniors and graduate students usually take home the top prize, so this kind of recognition is a feat for a freshman, Rzepka said.

Andrews said he isn’t in the film business to win awards but to do something he loves.

“My friends and I have a weird sense of humor, and we like to make movies about what we think is funny,” Andrews said. “Not everyone agrees with us, but if we think something is funny, then someone else in the world must think so too.”

“Banana Hands,” the title of Andrews’ film, was the product of his last summer with some of his high school friends. He said he wanted to do something fun to remember them by.

So far, quasi-fame hasn’t changed him or led to any Hollywood film deals. He has gotten a lot of people asking about him online and a few requests to do “commercial stuff” in Bozeman.

He is in the process of writing a feature movie and plans to make short films over the summer. Whatever happens, Andrews said he is proud to have put Montana on the map with his film.

Go to http://www.bestfilmoncampus.com/contests/bfoc/default.aspx to check out “Banana Hands,” along with the other top 25 films.