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12 | EYEWORLD DAILY NEWS | MAY 16, 2020 DAILY NEWS ASCRS VIRTUAL ANNUAL MEETING The show must go on announcement of the winner and runner-up in each category from their home, their empty OR, their office, their univer- sity's lectern. Similarly, the Grand Prize winner and cate- gory winners and runners-up, who usually are surprised by their award at the Annual Meeting, were informed ahead of time and given the opportu- nity to film their own personal reactions. "They could show their re- action in their home town and share what it means to win and win this year," Dr. Tauber said, adding that they were encour- aged to bring their family into their videos. He said some announce- ments and reactions are funny, others are sentimental, and all of them are touching, all of them very personal. "Within 3 hours we had all of the awards figured out, for the most part. It was incredi- ble," Dr. Tauber said, adding that the team thought the process, in some ways, was more efficient than their prior meeting style, and it might be applied in a capacity in years to come. With the issue of remote judging complete, the next challenge was the ceremony itself. "Usually it's a very formal event," Dr. Tauber said, adding that judges come in tuxedos and gowns and there are Oscar-like trophies awarded. "There is a lot of pomp and cir- cumstance. … So the challenge became, how do we encapsu- late that?" Dr. Tauber said the judges were asked to make it per- sonal. They could film their incredibly hard work. … We as judges are obligated to give them a fair evaluation of their efforts, and we were rewarded with incredibly good videos. The caliber was second to none," he said. A few weeks later, ASCRS announced the formation of the ASCRS Virtual Annu- al Meeting, which this Film Festival is now a part of, being streamed tonight from 6:30– 7:45 p.m. ET. Given social distancing mandates, judging of the films, which would usually take place in person ahead of the Annu- al Meeting, was conducted over a Zoom call with judges showing their top four films in the categories of awards—ap- plicability/education value, originality, scientific content/ validity, clarity, cinematic quali- ty, and artistic effects. by Liz Hillman Editorial Co-Director W hen the judges for the 38th ASCRS Film Festival began their meetings in February 2020, they were planning for two scenarios. The ASCRS Film Festival might go on as planned, in person in Boston, Massachusetts, but what if it didn't? "It took a fraction of a second for the group to come up with the idea that the show must go on," said Shachar Tauber, MD, chairman of the ASCRS Film Festival, Spring- field, Missouri. Shortly thereafter, the ASCRS Annual Meeting in Boston was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so Dr. Tauber and his fellow judges—Jason Jones, MD, Sioux City, Iowa, Denise Visco, MD, York, Pennsylvania, John Hart Jr., MD, Farmington Hills, Michigan, Lisa Nijm, MD, Warrenville, Illinois, P. Dee Stephenson, MD, Venice, Florida, Brandon Ayres, MD, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Steven Safran, MD, Lawrence Township, New Jersey, and Minas Coroneo, MD, Sydney, Australia—began their plan for a virtual ceremony. At that time, Dr. Tauber said the team approached the Film Festi- val as if it would be the only representation from the ASCRS Annual Meeting this year. "We thought, we may be the only radio station broad- casting for ASCRS at that time," Dr. Tauber said. "It may be the only thing … that would be representative for the year 2020." Dr. Tauber said there was a record number of films submit- ted this year, more than 200. "All these people from around the world did Boris Malyugin, MD, PhD (left), who won the top prize at the 2019 ASCRS Film Festival, with Shachar Tauber, MD, chairman of the ASCRS Film Festival Source: ASCRS

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