EyeWorld is the official news magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
Issue link: https://digital.eyeworld.org/i/78716
52 EW ASCRS PREVIEW March 2012 April 20-24, 2012 Happy birthday, Film Festival! by Michelle Dalton EyeWorld Contributing Editor The other change from years gone by is that 2012 marks the first year there will be a list of "Judges' recommendations"—videos that may not have won in their respec- tive categories, but that the judges felt warranted extra attention. "We've got 180 videos this year—I'm going to guess about 20- 25 will warrant 'Judges' recommen- dations,'" Dr. Fishkind said. These videos will be marked as such on the ASCRS website after the conference as well, he said. This year, Dr. Fishkind expects there to be "a large influx" of videos on the newest femtosecond lasers for refractive cataract surgery. "What amazes me is each and From left to right: Nicole R. Fram, M.D., Ken Rosenthal, M.D., Spencer P. Thornton, M.D., John A. Vukich, M.D., Amar Agarwal, F.R.C.S., William J. Fishkind, M.D., Mark H. Blecher, M.D., Thomas John, M.D., and Liliana Werner, M.D., Ph.D., the judges of the 2011 ASCRS Film Festival in San Diego The ASCRS Film Festival marks 30 years and has become the de facto standard for all others T he ASCRS Film Festival celebrates its 30th year during the 2012 ASCRS•ASOA Sympo- sium & Congress in Chicago. The awards ceremony will be held on Monday afternoon and open with a wine and cheese recep- tion. This year's Film Festival will be introduced with a look back at those who helped make it so successful, said William J. Fishkind, M.D., Tucson, Ariz., chair of the Film Festival judges' panel. "As I've said before, the ASCRS Film Festival is the one everyone else aspires to be," he said. "For the 30th, we're planning a video review of those who came before, to remind us of how far technology and inno- vation have led us." Dr. Fishkind said he is particu- larly pleased with the entrants in the New Producer category. Originally created to help reach younger con- testants and those who have never won before, Dr. Fishkind said the category "lets people who don't have a great deal of experience sub- mit and compete against others who have similar levels of experience in- stead of competing against some of the producers who have vast experi- ence and resources." The New Pro- ducer category is open to anyone who has never submitted a film or a Young Physician in their first 5 years after residency, up to age 35. Young Physicians may submit more than once, providing they have never won before. New for 30 This year for the first time the Film Festival will be offering its version of the People's Choice Awards, Dr. Fishkind said. "We decided that those of us Dr. Fishkind, chair of the ASCRS Film Festival, introduces last year's awards ceremony Source (all): Convention Photo by Joe Orlando Inc./EyeWorld who judge the videos and discuss them have a different perspective than those attendees who watch the videos at the kiosk," he said. "So this year we're inviting the viewers/at- tendees to vote for their favorite video and runner-up. Those 'People's Choice' winners will receive tro- phies, just like everyone else. I per- sonally can't wait to see who wins those two." Dr. Fishkind added each attendee can vote once, as people will have to log in with their ID badges. every year there are videos that per- sonally teach me something new, whether it's a technique or making a difficult concept easier to under- stand," he said. "Only the Film Festi- val has that capability to teach. From a producer's standpoint, noth- ing is more fun than the creative effort of putting your educational thoughts/teachings and visual con- cepts into a video and submitting it and watching other people learn from it. It's why we make movies." Dr. Fishkind is expecting more than 180 entries from around the world this year. Winners will be an- nounced in the categories of Cataract Complications, Cataract/ Implant Surgery, Glaucoma Surgery, In-house Productions, Instruments and Devices/IOLs, New Producer, New Techniques, Quality Teaching, Refractive/Cornea Surgery, and Special Interest. Film Festival judging will take place by the team of nine judges all day Thursday and half the day on Friday. The panel is made up of renowned doctors from around the world: Liliana Werner, M.D., Salt Lake City, as chief judge, Steven Dewey, M.D., Colorado Springs, Colo.; Thomas John, M.D., Chicago, Ill., Ken Rosenthal, M.D., Great Neck, N.Y., Spencer P. Thornton, M.D., Nashville, Tenn.; Jonathan Rubenstein, M.D., Chicago; Colleen Halfpenny, M.D., Philadelphia, and Danièle Aron-Rosa, M.D., Paris, as the international guest judge. EW Editors' note: Dr. Fishkind has no fi- nancial interests related to this article. Contact information Fishkind: 520-293-6740, wfishkind@earthlink.net