Film Department seniors debuted their capstone films at the Redfern Art Center’s Main Theater on Sunday, April 21 as part of the 2024 Student Film Festival. A nearly-full house of students, family members, faculty and friends attended the premiere.
The capstone screenings gave outgoing film students the chance to display the products of their years of work and study at KSC to an audience, and included two question-and-answer forums.
The premier included 11 student films ranging from narrative features of different genres, documentaries and animation. The event was broken into two separate blocks, with one block of seven films premiering back to back and beginning at 1p.m., and six films premiering similarly in the second block, which began at 6p.m.
“Bloodline”, a documentary by senior film student Benjamin Shapiro premiered during the first block. Shapiro’s documentary explored the life story of a prominent anti-slavery historical figure in his family tree who helped with freeing and repatriating captive Africans during the Amistad case of 1839.
“I’ve done films on my family before, and my mom started doing research on our family history, which led to me learning about the Amistad case a while back. I just thought to myself what a cool guy he was, and it made me think about just how much good a person can accomplish with their life,” said Shapiro.
Shapiro said being able to screen his film was a powerful moment.
“It was an eye opening experience. Normally when you graduate college, all you have to show for it is knowledge in your head. To have an actual, physical thing that you can show people, sort of proof of concept of how far you’ve come and how much you’ve developed is really special,” said Shapiro.
Film and Theatre double major Julia Stearns attended the first block to support her friends and classmates in the film major.
“I have a lot of friends in the casts for some of the films, and also wanted to say goodbye to some of the film seniors who poured their lives into their work here,” said Stearns.
“I’m a junior, and this time next year I’ll be in the same position. Seeing some of these films have really inspired me in terms of what I’ll be cooking up with my own work,” added Stearns.
“Unveiling Voices,” a documentary about sexual assault on college campuses, and the importance of believing survivors debuted during the second block. Film student Patrick Barry directed, produced and edited the film, which was inspired by his mother’s work helping survivors of sexual and domestic violence.
“Even though this is very dark and difficult subject matter, it was important to appreciate every step in the process. One of the most important and rewarding parts of getting this together was building relationships with the survivors we spoke with. Being able to get to know them as people, personify them beyond the horrible things they’ve experienced was really important,” said Barry.
Barry highlighted the similarities between the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses, and sexual assault in the film industry.
“I can’t express enough how important believing survivors is, and taking survivor accounts seriously. This isn’t only happening on college campuses, but also all over the film industry. I really wanted to make something that takes a strong stance against it, because it needs to end,” said Barry.
Former KSC film student Brad Chevarella attended the second block.
“Seeing all my former classmates make what they wanted to make was really inspiring, and I’m so proud to be friends with so many of the talented students whose films we saw tonight,” said Chevarella.
Assistant Professor of Film Studies Taylor Dunne said the screening showcased the growth and dedication of the graduating film students.
“There’s so much problem solving and creativity that goes into getting these films done,” Dunne said. “I always say that finding ways to adjust to unforeseen challenges during production is necessary as a filmmaker, and we’ve seen so many students navigate so many different challenges and come out the other side with something to be proud of.”
“I’m very proud of all their hard work, and really believe they can do anything they want in life,” added Dunne.
Ryan Pacheco can be contacted at
rpacheco@kscequinox.com
