After submitting only a rough-cut version of her film, “Eyes of a Child,” to the annual University Film & Video Association Conference held in Chicago in August 2005, S.F. State cinema major Delphine Suter won an $8,000 scholarship.

The Eastman scholarship, created by Kodak and administered by the University Film & Video Foundation, was created in 1991 and has since helped nearly 100 cinema students, who like Suter, are awarded for their video production, as well as creative storytelling.

“The Kodak award is once a year and is very prestigious,” said SF State Cinema Professor, Larry Clark.

Every year, universities around the country are able to nominate one undergraduate and one graduate student for the award. Suter was nominated by Clark and Cinema Professor Karen Holmes of SF State.

The competition drew 49 submissions from schools all over the United States and Canada, but only 9 films, including Suter’s, were approved for the finals.

In Suter’s film, “Eyes of a Child,” which she directed and co-produced, the story focuses on the glorious imagination of an awkward girl who reads books that come alive in her mind.

“The film was really original, inventive, and beautifully done,” said Professor Holmes, who said she decided to recommend Suter after she saw “Eyes of a Child”.

“I knew of her project and then saw a disc while it was in progress. I thought it was very good,” said Professor Clark. He wrote the letter of recommendation to the scholarship program as the nominator from SF State.

The film was written by Suter’s mother, Constance Hasapopulos, who graduated from the University of Minnesota as a theater major.

“I wanted to create a film about the psychology of children and liked the idea of pulling the viewer inside a child’s imagination,” said Suter.

After brainstorming with the co-producer and cinematographer, Joseph Mullen, Suter called her mother for ideas.

“Her mom talked to us a little bit and then bumped out a script. We knew it was exactly what we were looking for,” said Mullen.

“We get a glimpse into this little girls reality in the film,” said Suter. She admits that some of the character is a reflection of her childhood.

Suter's use of different types of film allows the viewer to witness the girl transform and come alive as she reads fairy tales.

“We did contrasting looks by shooting all the reality scenes with 500T Vision film that created a drab look, and then we over exposed 200T Vision film to pull out the colors in the imagination scenes,” said Suter.

The film only took 10 days to shoot, and then 3 more days of re-shooting several months later.

“We talked to a lot of people who really liked the script, so most of the crew signed on for free,” said Mullen, explaining how much support the film gained.

With the film almost complete, with the exception of sound mixing, Professor Clark called Suter to share that he wanted to nominate her film. Thinking “Eyes of a Child” would never win as a rough cut, Suter quickly mailed the finished version overnight, in hopes that it was not too late.

“My stomach dropped,” said Suter, when she discovered the man responsible for getting the finished film to the conference had left before the mail arrived.

“I didn’t think I was going to win with an incomplete film,” said Suter.

The jury panel included an independent filmmaker, a cinematographer, a professor, and an executive from Kodak, the company that created the scholarship program.

According to Isidore Mankofsky, one of the judges and a prominent cinematographer, the most important part of the film was the storytelling, which received the most weight for scoring.

“It was unanimous that this was the best film,” said Mankofsky.
The judges discussed all of the films and came together on Suter’s, which according to Mankofsky is unusual.

“Usually there is a great difference in opinion, but this particular film was deserving of special attention,” said Mankofsky.

When Suter discovered she won, she called her mother and started screaming.

“She had a clean idea for the film she wanted to make and it is visually great,” said friend Rebeca Holmes, as to why she believes Suter won.

“I am so happy that she won, It shows the director’s dedication to get an award,” said co-producer, Joey Mullen.

Suter emphasized that this film was a collaboration when she said, “I couldn’t have made it by myself.”

Winning the scholarship has given Suter the opportunity to attend the Cannes International Film Festival, in France next May, where “Eye of a Child” will be shown.

“She is very young and directed this film like a seasoned professional, she has a bright future ahead of her, ” said Professor Clark of Suter’s abilities.

For the near future, Suter and her crew hope to have the film win more awards before May. They are sending it off to festivals around the country and top on the list is the Sundance Film Festival.

“My goal is to make large budget features, but to retain an independent feel,” said Suter.

As for Suter’s next project, she is beginning to outline and brainstorm over a script that is a psychological suspense, thriller.

Still being in college does not seem to be holding Suter back from pursuing a career, and as her friend Rebeca Randry said, “I think it’s really astonishing, for being so young that she is doing so much.”