Biola University Cinema & Media Arts junior Taylor Rae’s film, The Old Man and the Ceiling, won second place at the 2009 Damah Film Festival in Seattle, WA in early October. The film also tied for the Audience Award of Best Director.

Rae was awarded the prize of $2,500 for the drama about a man waking up the day after his wife of 50 years had passed away. Larry Strauss, the actor in the film, accepted the awards on behalf of Rae since he is currently studying abroad in the Biola London program.

“I was completely surprised to get second place. There were a lot of really strong films in the festival and I had no idea I was going to make it in the top three,” said Rae.

He feels that winning second place is a huge honor since the competition was tough against 11 other films. Rae personally thought another film was going to win because they had Tony Hale (Arrested Development) as an actor

He is excited that the film will get greater awareness when screened at the Damah Film Festival in Japan.

“I couldn’t be happier that the film is going to be shown in Japan,” said Rae.

The Old Man and the Ceiling will be translated into Japanese, something Rae had never imagined would happen. The film will screen at the Damah Film Festival in Hiroshima, Japan, Dec. 11-13, 2009.

Damah is a non-profit organization that provides filmmakers the opportunity to share their artistic work exploring the idea of spirituality. Their mission is to encourage filmmakers to voice their views on spirituality through short films. The Damah Film Festival started in October of 2001 and continues to grow as more films are generating topics that deal with human experiences in spirituality.

Learn more about Damah and view winning films.

Written by Jennifer Thach, Media Relations Intern