SJU student wins grant to attend Cannes International Film Festival

04/29/2008

Nicholas Swanson, a Saint John’s University senior from St. Louis Park, Minn., recently won an International Youth Meetings grant from the French Embassy to attend the Cannes International Film Festival in France.

Swanson, an individualized major in film studies and production and a minor in French, will be in France from May 14-26.

The International Youth Meetings (IYM) is a program of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinated by the Bureau of Youth Exchanges and Embassies, which involve young French-speaking people of 18 to 25 years old, from five continents.

During his stay at the festival, Swanson will attend films in and out of competition, workshops, conferences and panels by cinema professionals (filmmakers, actors, cinema critics, producers and journalists).

He will be assigned to a group of other students or young filmmakers from all over the world chosen by embassies. With his group, he will have the opportunity to create a film-journal of his experiences of the festival.

“I expect that this trip will provide me with the opportunity to expand myself beyond the North American film industries and into the international realm of film theory and production,” said Swanson, when asked about what he expects to gain from this experience. “My hope is to begin building an international network of connections which may aid me in my future professional pursuits.”

Swanson is also excited to return to France, where he studied during a semester study-abroad experience in fall 2006.

“We studied at a small, private language school, Le Collège International de Cannes, and it was one of the most influential experiences of my life. This time abroad greatly reinforced my desire to live and work internationally after graduation,” Swanson said. 

All participants in this program are welcomed to bring their own works that will be shown one evening and might be chosen for the Bordeaux International Upcoming Young Filmmakers Festival. Swanson will likely bring with him a project that he recently completed with another senior video student, Jeffrey Schwinghammer. Titled Autumn Edge, the film was accepted into this year’s Student Video Showcase at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University and was awarded the prize for Best Narrative Film.

Swanson recently accepted a position with a Japanese English language education program, through which he will teach in northern Japan for a year.