What's Happening? Winner: Andrew Herwitz

The Global Film Initiative and Virgin America airlines congratulate Andrew Herwitz, winner of the winter edition of the Wing It! student contest! Andrew's creative and award-winning essay, "Dirt, Rubber and the Living Earth," wins him two roundtrip tickets on Virgin America airlines! His prize-winning essay can be read below.

Contest: What's Happening?

Take a look at the image above. What do you see? A guy in a big tire, sure. But how did he get there? What’s the story behind the picture? (HINT: This image is from Getting Home, which is set in China's famed Three Gorges region, and is also one of the many Global Lens films currently showing on Virgin America airlines!)

Think you have an idea? Great. Create, write or just make up a story about what’s happening “behind-the-scenes.” Don’t want to write a story? Okay, write a poem. Or a script or scene, like from a movie. You could even do a little research about the region and write an essay (gasp)! The only requirement is that your submission be 350-500 words long.

Be creative, insightful or even humorous. The submission deadline is February 26, 2010, so when you’ve finished your masterpiece, send it to us with a completed application, and the author of the best submission will win 2 round-trip tickets on Virgin America, the hippest airline around!

EXTRA CREDIT: Write a funny caption for this picture (like... “I can't go any further, I'm just so tire-d!”). The best submission wins a DVD of this film!

How To Enter

• Take a good look at the image from Getting Home
• Write a poem/story/script/essay about the image above (350-500 words)
• Write a funny caption for the image (optional)
• Read the official rules for details, then fill out this entry form and email it along with your written work and caption (if you so choose) to:

wingit_contest@globalfilm.org

or send it by mail to:

The Global Film Initiative
Attn: Wing It!
145 Ninth Street
Suite 105
San Francisco, CA 94103

Simple enough. You have until February 26, 2010 to send in your entry. If our judges think yours is the best of the bunch, you'll get 2 free airline tickets to any destination Virgin America flies and your essay will be featured on our education website, Bluescreen!

That's it!

Prizes

The winner of the Wing It! Contest, "What's Happening?" will receive 2 non–refundable tickets to anywhere Virgin America flies and be featured on the Bluescreen website, and in The Global Film Initiative's newsletter. Runners-up will also be featured on Bluescreen. The winner of the extra credit caption challenge (optional) will receive a DVD of Getting Home from the Global Lens film library. All winners will be announced by Monday, March 15, 2010.

Official Rules

Please click here to read a full description of the official rules for the Wing It! Contest. By entering this Contest, you agree to the rules and restrictions set forth by The Global Film Initiative.

Click here to see the winners of the previous Wing It! Contest, "Travel Diary."

Click here to go to the current Wing It! Contest, "Word Play."

Andrew Herwitz' Essay: Dirt, Rubber and the Living Earth

The earth, like a gentle tidal wave, swallows up the boy. His cheek is pressed against the fresh wet dirt. His nostrils, so close to the soil, smell fresh, beautiful smells. It smells like it has just rained, like it has just rained for days and days and now the earth is laden with dew, is calm, is glistening like a jewel as the nervous sun furtively peaks its head around the foliage of clouds. The boy likes the darkness, here in this crater, in this subterranean place, this dark comfortable home. Unable to see anything he instead senses the world, feels the heartbeat of the earth, feels it beating in his ears, moving down his body, echoing in this hollow chamber. The earth is living, the earth is breathing.

It smells like the day they buried his mother. He remembers hiding in someone's shirt, his face buried in fabric, feeling the coarse patterned cloth against his face, smelling cigarettes, smelling perfume, smelling the rot of earth, smelling people, people he knows, people he loves. He has no time for them now. He has no time for love. Love is nothing compared to the earth, to the dark wet rubber pillow, that cradles his head, to the sweet musty wet smells that fill his lungs and make his head swarm with pleasant thoughts, with a warm numbness. Here, in this darkness, he can be back there, back where they buried his mother, or he can be back in her arms, or he can be anywhere, or he can be nowhere.

His father blocks out the sun, appears at the rim of his haven, appears like a tower rising above the sweet sick earth. The boy doesn't look up, doesn't leave the shadows, the cold calm darkness. But he senses his father, knows him by his shadow, by the commanding familiar thud of his footsteps, by the sound of his breathing. The father opens his mouth to say something to the boy, but he finds that he has nothing to say, and suddenly resents the idea of intruding upon the silence. Father, son, so aware of each other, sensing each other, knowing each other. They are aware of so many things in this moment, so many things that need not be said, that are simply understood. A perfect balance, like the balance in nature, like the harmony of the seasons. They are intensely aware of the heartbeat of the earth, feeling it beating, beating, beating, a constant timpani, a flowing ceaseless rhythm, an eternal forward march. The Father and son both know that, unlike human beings, the earth outlives everything.