Department of Communication Celebrates BEA Awards of Excellence

BANG! Team

Ringo Jones and Department of Communication students working on the BANG! film.

Students Wesley Rolfe, Briana Lamb, Kaleb Riddick, Frankie DiFiore Jr., Jewell Regan, Abbey Durrett, Rhonda Gulliver, Jackson Lane, Malana Williams, Fedora Young, Mason Rindfleisch and Damian Lora from Ringo Jones' advanced film production class will receive an Award of Excellence at the Broadcast Education Association On-Location Conference in South Carolina this October.  

Their short film BANG! won in the Film & Video Competition – Narrative category. BANG! was written by Wesley Rolfe in the fall 2022 scriptwriting course. Rolfe also directed the film. BANG! was produced, shot and edited in two weeks during the May 2023 intersession. Students were responsible for every step of the project, from pre-production to the final product, working under the supervision of Jones and industry professionals. This group of talented students submitted their project to multiple film festivals and will soon screen the short film to the public. Details of the screening will be announced at a later date.  

The BANG! team would like to extend a special thanks to the following people for their contributions to the film: 

• Glen Woodward (Department of Communication alumni, actor) 

• Robert Babcock (actor)  

• Bryan Guarino (actor)  

• Mike Stutz (adjunct professor in the Theater Department) 

• Intercut Productions (Bentonville)

Additionally, The Arkansas Accent Project, directed by Ben Corbett (UARK Theater) and produced by Ringo Jones (COMM), won an Award of Excellence at BEA On-Location Conference in the Faculty Documentary category. The short documentary chronicles and defines the accents heard across Arkansas and how our accents are tied to identity. The Arkansas Accent Project was screened at the Filmland: Arkansas event at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Art. It has also been accepted to screen at the Oregon Documentary Festival in September. The Arkansas Accent Project will screen in Fayetteville this fall as it continues on the film festival circuit.