PUC Student Receives $1,000 prize at SONscreen Film Festival

Michelle Konn Rai

There’s a new look to the filming industry, and it is refreshingly centered on Christ. College students from all over the U.S. brought their best to the first annual SONscreen Film Festival held in Ontario, California. The festival gave young Adventist video producers the opportunity to showcase their original videos, network with industry professionals, and even win prize money.

Christopher “Kit” Kohler, senior digital video technology major at Pacific Union College, received the second runner up prize of $1,000 for “Best in Show” (out of nearly 30 entries). In addition to Kohler’s prize money, the SONscreen Film Festival donated $1,000 to PUC’s technology department.

Kohler’s winning video, “The Mike Copithorne Story”, depicted the life of a PUC alumnus who was paralyzed after a skiing accident. Copithorne, formerly a professional wake boarder, has managed to still remain active in water sports, fly fishing, and his love for Christ. The film centered on life, love, and hope—elements that encapsulate our walk with the Lord. “His life is a miracle,” said Kohler. “I thought it was a story that really needed to be told in the video medium.”

Jon Wood, professor of technology at PUC, agrees that video cameras are becoming an important tool in spreading the Good News.

“I’ve seen God really moving forward in this medium and using it as a witness to plant seeds all over the world,” said Wood. For the past three years, he has taken his students abroad to Fiji, Thailand, India and Cambodia as part of PUC’s “video student missions” program. “Our mission is to ‘facilitate the communication of the gospel to the whole world,” he said.