Student Film Festival Showcases Student Talent, Skills
The College of Charleston Film Club showed off its skills, talent and creativity at the 21st Student Film Festival. Check out a couple of their films here!
Above: Braeden Cason starring in the film short, Flat Tire (Photos by Vincent Fraley)
In a packed Randolph Hall, the College of Charleston Film Club held its 21st annual Student Film Festival on Saturday, April 11. Ten short films, seven from CofC students and three from Trident Technical College students, were featured. Nancy Nenno, professor of German; Michael Smallwood ’09, adjunct faculty for the Department of Theatre and Dance; and Maximiliano Hernández, president of The Ministry Filmworks Inc. served as judges, rating the films on personal enjoyment, creativity, content, technical production and style.
“Our Student Film Festival is the flagship event of the year for the Film Studies program,” says Colleen Glenn, director of Film Studies and one of the club’s faculty advisors. “It is a celebration of cinema, as well as an opportunity to showcase our talented student filmmakers.
“While we offer courses in film production and screenwriting, the Film Club expands opportunities to learn production skills in an extracurricular, peer-to-peer learning platform,” she adds. “Many of our former club members have gone on to pursue careers in the film industry.”
That’s no surprise. Not only did the films shown at the festival demonstrate the students’ talent and creativity, but the festival experience gives students the opportunity to learn about event planning and the myriad details that must be covered.
“There’s nothing compared to running the festival,” says Braeden Cason, a theatre major and film studies minor and the Film Club’s president. “I have a huge weight off my shoulders now that it’s done, but I’m so glad that I was a part of continuing such an amazing tradition. We need to pass on to the next officers and members what was given to us: a sense of passion and community. That is what makes the Film Club sustainable and is why it has such a big a place in my heart.”
Student Film Festival Winners
First Place: The Art of Film Restoration, directed by Adam Barham
Second Place: The Art of Detangling a Twist, directed by Steven Mikel Taylor (Trident Tech)
Third Place: Revival, directed by Caroline Drinnon
Honorable Mention: Underwater, directed by Charlie Cosgrove
Audience Choice: Flat Tire, directed by Liam Hasty
The Film Club Community
To support club members’ film production, there is equipment at the Marlene and Nathan Addlestone Library that they can check out to make their own films once they have been certified. Quite often the production team and actors in the student films are members of the Film Club.
“The success of the club can be attributed to its strong sense of community,” says Liam Hasty, the club’s vice president and a business administration major and film studies minor. “We create real connections through weekly movie screenings and discussions, workshops on screenwriting and filmmaking and a screenwriting competition. These connections grow into a network that continues after graduation.”
That network reaches beyond the students in the Film Club.
Cason and Hasty give a big shoutout to Tim Fennell, adjunct faculty for the Film Studies program, who teaches Film and Documentary Production.
“Tim Fennell is a great resource,” says Hasty, adding that Fennell’s class is key for the club members. “He has helped guide what equipment we need for the club, and he always takes us on a field trip to see the equipment Trident Tech has.”
To learn more about Film Club events and news, check out the Film Studies blog Reel News and follow them on Instagram at @cofc.filmclub.
