C.W. Post Professor Wins Award for Documentary of Father’s Story

Brookville, NY – Dr. Giedre Kumpikas, Adjunct Professor of French at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, received a Platinum Remi Award at the 42nd Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival for the Category: Biography or Autobiography. Dr. Kumpikas’ documentary, “Wings to Remember,” chronicles her father’s bi-plane flight through Nazi Germany as a young Lithuanian pilot in 1934.

Dr. Kumpikas flew to Houston to receive the award on April 25, 2009. WorldFest is the world’s largest film and video competition in volume of entries, with more than 4,000 submissions by film makers from 33 countries. In some categories there are over 400 entries, and only one Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze award are presented in each category.

“Since cinematography is not my field, it took me some time to put all the elements in place, not the least of which was writing the script,” said Dr. Kumpikas. “The film literally began to shape itself and develop in its own direction. To any student of cinema, this might be self-evident, but for me it was a most interesting and magical experience.”

Dr. Kumpikas also had a private screening of her film in December at the Tribeca Screening Room. The 47-minute documentary was filmed in HDV PAL, on location in the Czech Republic, Lithuania and New York. Based on archival footage, old photographs and family artifacts, Dr. Kumpikas’ own remembrances and her father’s personal papers, the film documents a life-changing flight, World War II, and the hardship of immigration in 1950’s New York. The film was produced by Dr. Kumpikas’ company, Amberwings Productions.

Posted: July 2, 2009