graduate Joe Carlini says he never had the speed to be an elite football player.
He was certainly fast enough to win a recent film contest at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.
At the annual River Falls Falcon Film Festival, Carlini won the university’s “Ready, Set, Film” contest, which gave 11 teams of UWRF students 48 hours to produce a short movie—from writing the script to filming the actors to the final editing.
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No monetary prizes were awarded to the winners, but students were recognized in categories such as “best film,” “best actor” and “best director.”
Carlini—a senior at UWRF pursing a degree in digital film and television with a minor in film studies—said the two-day timeframe in which to complete his “Ready, Set, Film” piece was quite a challenge.
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“I’ve never done any (film) that quickly before,” the 23-year-old said. “I was writing the script until 2 a.m. and then I got up and shot the whole thing. It’s one of those things where you have to tell your body it’s not going to get sleep for a while because you have to finish it.”
He added, “It was a great experience.”
Carlini, a 2006 Woodbury grad whose parents and grandfather all have a background in television, studied film at Minneapolis Community & Technical College(*) before heading to River Falls, and has produced numerous short films and documentaries.
He said that he was humbled that his film was selected as best among the field of entrants in the River Falls competition.
An Award-Winning Idea
Carlini said he had the idea for the narrative, fictional film about a week prior to the festival. His film is about an aspiring professional BMX biker who gets diagnosed with late-stage cancer.
Carlini said he’s known people who have dealt with cancer, and wanted to craft a film that makes people reflect on their lives and not take things for granted.
“I wanted to show someone who was successful, and how cancer can happen to anyone,” he said.
Carlini said he doesn’t have a specific background in BMX racing, but the main actor in his film is a rider.
A Past Accolade
Growing up, Carlini said he wanted to be a professional football player, but he had an interest in film starting in grade school.
“I couldn’t run a 4.3 40-(yard dash) and I wasn’t 6 foot 4, so I put football on the back burner,” he said with a laugh. “In third or fourth grade I started coming up with story ideas. I’ve always been interested in film and I love inspiring people with an idea. Telling a story of importance and inspiring people interested me.”
Carlini was nominated for an Emmy for one of those stories.
When he was 22, Carlini completed a short documentary about Nigerian identical twins who played basketball for Minneapolis Community & Technical College (MCTC) and dreamed of playing in the NBA.
His film detailed the struggles the twins had adjusting to American culture, and how both went on to secure athletic scholarships at Concordia University in St. Paul.
His mother, Jodi Ritacca, encouraged him to submit the film to the Midwest Chapter of the Emmys in the student production category.
Out of more than 20 entries, Carlini’s film was selected, along with two others, as finalists. Though he didn’t win, he said it was an honor to be nominated.
Family Ties
Ritacca, who some Minnesotans might be familiar with because of her television reporting at KSTP, said the family is proud of her son.
“I just think he’s really good,” she said.
Ritacca said she was with her son when he won the “Ready, Set, Film” contest.
“I was so impressed watching him put that whole thing together,” she said.
Carlini said he’s already started another film that details the cancellation of MCTC’s basketball program, which was seen as one of the top junior college programs in the nation just two years ago.
Ideally, if he were to land his dream job, Carlini said he’d like to become a film producer or director making movies and the occasional music video.
“I want to make films that matter, films that are inspiring, films that make you question your values, achieve something or accomplish a goal,” he said.
Watch some of Carlini's films on Facebook here.
(*) An earlier version of this story referred to it as the Minnesota Community & Technical College
