Ceylin Arias/Staff Writer
The Film Studies certificate program, in collaboration with the English Honors Society (Sigma Tau Delta) and The Film Initiative Underground, will be hosting their first annual Panther Film Festival on April 4, 2018, in GC 140.
Students will have the opportunity to apply by submitting their own produced and directed films in a genre of their interest such as nonfiction, horror, action, crime, drama, among others.
All students are welcome to apply. As part of the application process, at least one student participating in the production of an entry must provide a copy of their Panther ID. Only films with a total run time of 20 minutes or under will be accepted and all entries must be submitted in person as a physical copy.
Early submissions are highly recommended, according to the Panther Film Festival’s website, as students will have the option to receive feedback on their work and be allowed to resubmit their entries ahead of the March 1 deadline.
Shortly after the deadline, students will be able to view a schedule of approved films and their screening times.
Mario Avalos, one of the film studies interns, said being part of film studies made him realize just how expansive film studies students’ ideas really were and is the primary reason why the Panther Film Festival was created in the first place – to showcase student ideas and talents to other students and the community.
“Film is the most important storytelling medium of our time. Students need an outlet and place to showcase their work and the Film Studies program are able to support that because there aren’t as many opportunities for students to produce and also to showcase their work as there could be at the university,” said Assistant Professor of English and Director of the Film Studies Certificate program, Andrew Strycharski.
The first Panther Filmmaker Mixer was held on Oct. 19, 2017 inside Deuxieme Maison (DM) 457 from 3-5: p.m. The next mixer will be held on Thursday, Nov. 16 from 3-5 p.m. in GL 125.
Though, the number of applicants and the duration of the event will remain tentative until Jan. 19, when applications and preliminary forms are due, Avalos hopes the PFF will be a success.
Not only will the event showcase films produced by students, the evening event
will also hold a panel of judges who will judge the films and the audience will award “Best Short Feature” as well.
Avalos suggests that students who aren’t confident in their filmmaking skills and are scared to share their work with others should attend the PFF’s monthly mixers.
“The monthly mixers are a great opportunity for students to feel more comfortable as they’re tailored to students’ specific interests such as acting or screenwriting so I definitely say go for it,” Avalos said.
Strycharski also sees the event as “a step into an expansive universe.”
“The ways moving image are being used and the way people are building careers surrounding this field are expansive, this a step towards achieving that,” Strycharski said. “Filmmaking and video production are becoming such a prominent activity that a lot of the communication that used to happen in written form are going to be happening through moving images and it will eventually become a standard work skill.”
Image retrieved from Flickr.
How would one get in contact with the those hosting this??