The Student Filmmakers Association (SFA) had its first screening of the semester, showing 17 different student-made films this past Friday night in Hughes-Trigg.
A few of the films were made by production classes from the CTV department, the rest made by students on their own time. The evening’s films treated a range of topics from the artistic to the dramatic to the comedic. New elements to the presentations this year were projects rendered in high definition. The festival opened and closed with student productions filmed and projected entirely in HD.
The presentation included films like “The Fins” by Sarah Nolen featuring a puppet chorus of her own design. Another crowd favorite was “The Roommate from Hell,” directed by Thane Economou, a comedy highlighting what it would be like to have Satan as a roommate here at SMU. Other films like “Father and Son” directed by Bobby Chase Jr., and “The Squirrel in Me” directed by Stephanie Gangel brought in the laughs. The former was about a pride-driven series of ridiculous contests between father and son, and the latter on a fictitious and overzealous squirrel-loving student here on campus, played by SFA head Nathan Harris. The Film II Spring 2007 In-Class shoot, entitled “Too Much Wii” directed by Vienna Cat was a humorous look at what too much video gaming can do. Other films were thought-provoking, like Travis Mabrey’s “Vignetta” or Jordan Mathis’ “Chessmaster.”
Although the evening started off with some minor technical difficulties stemming from the laptop used in the projection system, it then flowed smoothly from one film to the next.
“The people who stayed to the end enjoyed it; I think we ended it on a high note,” Harris said. “About half the audience was SFA, the other half friends and visitors.”
The closing film for the evening’s program was the summer session’s HD film final project, “Davy Crockett Battles Kung Fu Vampires,” starring many members of the audience and directed by Weston Henry. Although light, the audience was as assorted as the films, ranging from Film Department Chair Rick Worland to student filmmakers and guests from other schools.
“One of my favorite things about it was the variety. It really showcased the different kind of films that SMU students make,” Lauren Nickel, a visiting student from Baylor, said.
It is still very early in the year, so SFA is not done with its work for the semester. There is a film festival in the spring and they also rent out a professional theater to showcase their work.
“We have the main festival in the spring and for the people who made their projects last year but couldn’t get them to us in time, we wanted to give them a chance to exhibit their films too,” Harris said.
