“Don’t be a Bystander,” a film by senior mass communication Shelana Ysen which encourages Bemidji State University students to look after each other in social situations, is one of five BSU entries in the Minnesota Student Filmmakers Contest, part of Bemidji State’s fourth Headwaters Film Festival.

Bemidji State’s entrants are:

• “Brothers,” 14 min.; director: Sam Moore, senior, mass communication, Crystal, Minn.
• “Your Mom’s Atelier,” 5 min.; director: Kelsey Jacobson, junior, mass communication, Renville, Minn.
• “Don’t be a Bystander,” 2 min.; A collaborative effort by students in Dr. Virgil Bakken’s Single Camera Production course. Students who participated include Shelana Ysen, Janie Johnson, Heather Foner, Shawn Campbell, Kelsey Jacobson and Feifei Long.
• “Beer Science,” 8 min.; director: Shawn Campbell, junior, mass communication, Bemidji
• “Some Major Elements,” 2 min.; director: Alexander Danielson, senior, liberal studies and geography, Bemidji

Sam Moore’s film, “The Brothers” is a documentary that follows two college fishermen pursuing a life-long dream in the fastest-growing college sport – competitive bass fishing. The film features BSU students Mitch Swanson, a junior business administration major from Blaine, and his brother Thor, a sophomore marketing communication major. The trio have been fixtures on the college fishing circuit for the last several years, and the Swanson brothers are competing at the Fishing League Worldwide College Fishing Open, April 1-2 in Marion, Ky.

“You get to see what happens behind the stage and life on the road, both as a full-time college student and committed anglers,” Moore said. “I fully believe these two will be elite professional anglers someday, and I hope I’m around to celebrate with them when that happens.”

Ysen, Moore and the other BSU students are part of a group of nine student filmmakers from around the state who have entered work in this year’s competition, including students from St. Cloud State University, Minnesota State University Moorhead, and Gustavus Adolphus College.

Screenings for the competition begin at 3 p.m. April 1 in the Main Theatre of Bemidji State’s Bangsberg Fine Arts Complex. An award ceremony follows at 4:30 p.m. The top three films will win cash prizes, with $250 for the winner.

BSU’s Headwaters Film Festival is an entirely student-run endeavor. Nearly 30 students have worked to produce the 2016 festival, which includes screenings of international student films, a Skype session with Jamie Holt, producer of Lady Gaga’s video for the Academy Award-nominated single “’Til It Happens To You,” screenings of 2015 winners from NASA’s CineSpace film competition, and feature films each night. The 2016 Headwaters Film Festival runs March 31-April 1.