May 31, 2006

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – UAB sophomore Ryan Marlow of Birmingham has been selected as a semifinalist in the FYI: Film Your Issue Competition, a national short film competition for people ages 18-26. Marlow, 20, an art studio major at UAB, is a graduate of the Alabama School of Fine Arts and a two-time Sidewalk Scramble winner. He is the son of Dr. Timothy Marlow of Selma and Dr. Leah Tucker of Birmingham.

Participants in FYI were tasked with creating a 60-second film examining a social issue of their choice. Marlow chose the plight of the homeless. His film, “The Invisible People,” shot entirely in downtown Birmingham, was selected from more than 300 entries nationwide.

Finalists will be chosen by online voting and by a judging panel consisting of notables including actors George Clooney and Philip Seymour Hoffman, journalists Ben Bradlee, Walter Cronkite and Anderson Cooper and others. The online voting deadline is June 7. To view the film and vote, go online to [www.filmyourissue.com] and follow the links. The Web site also has more detailed information about the competition.

Prizes include a paid, eight-week studio internship with The Walt Disney Co., in Burbank, California. Additionally, five filmmakers, one from each of the top five finalists, will be flown to New York along with their faculty adviser for the awards ceremony on June 21 at the United Nations Headquarters. Five winning filmmakers also will be flown to Park City, Utah, for the festival season 2007, where they and their entries will be presented by MSN Spaces in a private reception.

FYI/Film Your Issue is an outreach to young Americans to engage them in public dialogue about pressing issues of importance, locally or nationally. Films could be about any social issue that elicits passion such as AIDS, homelessness, healthcare or discrimination, using honest expression and an inventive, creative cinematic approach.