Student films across a myriad of genres, styles and runtimes hit the big screen at this year’s annual student film showcase.
16 selected student films debuted on May 1 at the showcase, part of the 2025 Student Film Fest, which also included the capstones film festival and critical studies conference. The showcase started with the film screenings, then included a Q&A with the filmmakers and a reception in the lobby with snacks available.
The showcase program kicked off with “Heart of Keene” by sophomore Cam Rockwell, the only film in the showcase to be screened on 16 mm film.
Rockwell said his film was inspired by a graffiti note on the rail trail bridge that reads, “I know Spider-Man.”
“I saw that while I was on a walk and I wanted to make a film about little things that people like about Keene,” Rockwell said.
Junior Sophia Bates created a short animation project titled “Dinner with Ducks,” featuring a domestic dispute between two ducks. Bates described this as a departure from her other works.
“You wouldn’t expect it watching that animation, but I do a lot of horror and a lot of psychological films, so stepping out of that to do something different, it was kind of refreshing,” Bates said.
Clinical Associate Professor of Film Ted White said having films presented to a live audience is a special experience for students.
“That was something that was really important to me when I was making my first films in college,” White said. “To get the validation and the live feedback of an audience is really powerful.”
White described the showcase as an event with the potential to serve as a “turning point” for student filmmakers, where they can realize what they are capable of.
“Filmmaking is hard, and it takes quite a lot of time and effort, and sometimes a lot of coordinating with other people, and there’s technology and sometimes expenses,” White said. “There’s a lot of things that are obstacles about the whole process, so it’s really powerful to feel like all that effort is worth it.”
White also spoke to the process of selecting films for the showcase.
“We try to tell students that it’s not competitive. We’re not trying to say these are the best films of the year, but they are some of our favorites, that’s for sure,” White said. “The process is basically that each professor that is teaching a different film class can forward for consideration films that they think are worthy of having this public screening and celebration and then from there, we can’t show all of those, but we show most of them.”
White added the film professors tried to ensure filmmakers with a variety of experience levels were included.
“If somebody comes to the show who’s maybe even a prospective student or just somebody who’s curious about the program, they can see people having their first successes in their first or second semester,” White said. “It’s also great to mix those films with some of the senior work that’s more accomplished and they tend to be using some of our better equipment. … Sometimes the last film of the night is somebody’s first or second film that they’ve ever made, so that’s a really fun experience. I really like that.”
Charlotte King can be contacted at
cking@kscequinox.com
