Applications for the 2012 Film Student Scholarship Program.
At the link below you can download your 2012 Film Student Scholarship Application.
Application for the 2012 Monterey County Film Commission
Student Scholarship & Awards Program
Flyer for the Monterey County Film Commission
Student Scholarship & Awards Program
The deadline for film students to apply for the fifth annual Monterey County Film Commission Film Student Scholarship & Awards Program is Feb. 17, 2012.
UPDATE: The winner of the $2,000 award (or two $1000 awards) will be announced March 31, 2012.
The scholarship program was created to provide financial aid and incentive to students of film and beginning filmmakers who reside in Monterey County, or who are currently enrolled in a community college or university in the county. The fund was established as a permanent endowment with the Community Foundation for Monterey County. It is designed to help a film student work towards a career goal, with the funds going directly to the student to be used for Capstone or other film projects.
The Monterey International Pop Festival Foundation’s director Lou Adler noted that MIPFF’s donation to the scholarship was made “in the same spirit that brought the musicians and artists together in Monterey on the weekend of June 16, 17 and 18, 1967, for the Monterey Pop Festival.”
“The Monterey International Pop Festival Foundation cannot think of a more ideal place to support than where the festival was born and where it continues to live,” Adler said. “An additional incentive for our involvement is the fact that the Monterey County Film Commission is proactively marketing Monterey County as a destination for the motion picture, television and related industries, for the purpose of stimulating economic development, creating jobs, and providing and supporting educational opportunities in these areas.”
“The Monterey County Film Commission is proud to be able to provide this kind of assistance to young filmmakers,” said Jeff Clark, chairperson of the scholarship committee. “These funds provide students with the added dollars they need to take their film from being a good project to becoming a great project.”
Last year’s winner was Dominic Parisi, a student at California State University, Monterey Bay, in the Teledramatic Arts and Technology department. His production titled, “Derby” takes a behind-the-scenes look at the sport of female roller derby.
Previous Scholarship Winners...
Monterey County Film Commission Selects Dominic Parisi as $1,000 Film Student Scholarship Winner for 2011
(Monterey, CA – June 1, 2011) -- Dominic Parisi, a student at California State University, Monterey Bay, was named the 2011 winner of a $1,000 scholarship in the Monterey County Film Commission’s Film Student Scholarship & Awards
Program. Parisi, who is from Glendora, is a Marina resident who will be a senior this fall in the CSUMB Teledramatic Arts and Technology Department.
The Monterey County Film Commission scholarship program was created to provide financial aid and incentive to students of film and beginning filmmakers who reside in Monterey County or are enrolled in a college or university in the county. The fund was established as a permanent endowment with the Community Foundation for Monterey County.
The scholarship is funded through individual donations, and by this year’s business sponsor Alan Vasquez, the owner of Alternative Visual Artists Group (AVAG, Inc.), a Monterey area multi-media production company dedicated to keeping the arts alive.
Parisi plans to use the award to help cover costs anticipated for his “capstone” 
film production, a creative project the university requires of seniors to demonstrate what they have learned.
“Winning this scholarship will really take a big load off my shoulders, covering certain production costs and allowing me to purchase a specialized camera that will enable more creative shots and insights for my film,” Parisi said. “I strive to inspire social progression through my filmmaking, and in the future I would like to have a career in editing.”
Contributions to next year’s Film Student Scholarship & Awards Program are welcomed, according to Jeff Clark, the film commission’s scholarship committee chairperson and a board member. For more information call 831-646-0910 or email info@filmmonterey.org.
UPDATE Dominic Parisi has recently completed his film titled “Derby”. The short film is about the misconceptions of female roller derby and how the sport has transformed.
derby from Dominic Parisi on Vimeo.
2010 MONTEREY COUNTY FILM COMMISSION SELECTS RACHEL ASENDORF
AS $1,000 FILM STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP WINNER
Rachel Asendorf, a student at California State University, Monterey Bay, was selected as the 2010 recipient of the $1,000 prize in the Monterey County Film Commission Film Student Scholarship and Awards Program. Asendorf is a junior in the Teledramatic Arts and Technology Department.
The Monterey County Film Commission scholarship program was created to provide financial aid and incentive to students of film and beginning filmmakers who reside in Monterey County or are enrolled in a college or university in the county. The fund was established as a permanent endowment with the Community Foundation for Monterey County.
Asendorf, a Seaside resident, is putting herself through college, currently working as a news intern in the office of strategic communications at CSUMB, learning how to merge news and technology. She is also a production assistant for the Monterey Teen Film Festival, helping manage media and marketing. Asendorf had her own political talk radio show, “Raving Raven,” focusing on issues such as media influence, and next semester she’ll be hosting the radio show, “Cult Pop.”
In 2007 she won the Hispanic Heritage Bronze Award in the Los Angeles area for excellence in news writing. In high school in Apple Valley, Calif., she produced, directed, edited and filmed two documentaries that were distributed to each student who purchased a yearbook.
Her career goal is to produce video packages and enter the online or broadcast journalism field. “I want to enlighten, inform and entertain audiences through my future productions,” Asendorf said.
Contributions to the Monterey County Film Commission Film Student Scholarship and Awards Program are welcomed. The chair of the film scholarship committee is board member Phyllis Decker. For more information call 831-646-0910 or email info@filmmonterey.org.
2009 MONTEREY COUNTY FILM COMMISSION
FILM STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP WINNER
CSUMB Student Wins $1,000 Prize
(Monterey, CA – May 18, 2009) -- Juan Ramirez was selected as the 2009 
recipient of the $1,000 award in the Monterey County Film Commission Film Student Scholarship and Awards Program. Ramirez is a recent graduate of California State University, Monterey Bay, where he majored in Teledramatic Arts and Technology.
A Salinas resident, Ramirez had his latest film and senior project, “Letters From Within,” screened at the CSUMB Capstone Film Festival on May 15 at the CSUMB World Theater. The film features the stories and voices of young people within the Salinas juvenile hall. It was co-directed by CSUMB student Steven Sprague.
“Upon working with incarcerated teens I learned the meaning of film and what I can do with it to help make someone’s life better,” Ramirez said. “This experience honestly changed my life and gave me the certainty that documentary filmmaking is what I want to pursue. I want to work on films that bring help, hope, justice and love to people all over the world.”
The Monterey County Film Commission scholarship program was created to provide financial aid and incentive to students of film and beginning filmmakers who reside in Monterey County or are enrolled in a college or university in the county. The fund was established as a permanent endowment with the Community Foundation for Monterey County. The scholarship program chairperson is film commission board member Phyllis Decker.
“We not only want to congratulate Juan Ramirez for his extraordinary ambition, creativity and outstanding achievement, but also the faculty in the film programs at CSUMB and the local community colleges, Hartnell and Monterey Peninsula College, for turning out such an impressive group of promising young filmmakers,” Decker said.
l-to-r Estee Blancher, Alison Eastwood, Clinton Kuska, Anna Veronica Calvillo
Estée Blancher and Anna Veronica Calvillo were named the first recipients of $500 scholarships in the new Monterey County Film Commission Film Student Scholarship and Awards Program. The two are students in the Teledramatic Arts and Technology Department at California State University, Monterey Bay. Blancher's film was created in collaboration with fellow CSUMB student Clinton Kuska.