Notre Dame will host their 35th annual Student Film Festival at the Browning Cinema on Jan. 26-28, which will showcase over a dozen student-produced films completed in the last year.
“Filmed all over the country, and right here in South Bend, we are thrilled to present the premiere screenings of these undergraduate student films, many of which will go on to screen at film festivals nationally,” said Ted Mandell, festival founder and associate teaching professor in a press release from the film, television and theatre (FTT) department.
Mandell, an ‘86 alum, returned to work at Notre Dame and sponsored the first Student Film Festival in 1990, an event which he had wished was open to him when he was a student. The festival first premiered in the building now known as McKenna Hall, and has since moved venues a few times before settling at the Browning Cinema in 2004, the year the Browning Cinema opened.
Now, 35 years later, films originally submitted in classes such as introduction to production, documentary production, intermediate filmmaking and advanced filmmaking all have a shot to debut this weekend.
Audience members will also have a chance of voting for the Audience Choice Award after the approximately 120 minute run-time of each screening. The winning director(s) will be announced after the final screening on Jan. 28.
“You get some that are these wonderful love stories, you get some more suspense, you get some comedy,” Tre Goodhue, FTT department outreach specialist, said. “There’s a full range of themes and genres across these short films. I think the audience members should be in for a variety platter of wonderful films.”
One of the many short films, “Nearness of You,” was directed by junior Josh Vo and filmed in the spring of 2023. Vo took inspiration from his own life to capture the essence of what it means to “capture the moment.”
The short film comes to life through the perspective of a college student, armed with a camcorder, wanting to be able to remember and relive some of his favorite moments with his friends. Feeling a lot of these nostalgic longings himself, Vo decided to follow this storyline after attending a friend’s vocal recital, which gave him the revelation to include his own friends’ candid moments into the story. The title, “Nearness of You,” is named after a song of the same name sung by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, a favorite of Vo’s.
The importance of film extends further than a class assignment or an opportunity for entertainment corporations to make money. Mandell believes that people don’t make films for themselves, but rather they make films for an audience to consume. That’s where the importance lies.
“I think, in general, we watch films to be emotionally moved. I mean, why did you pick that film to watch on Netflix? You wanted to laugh? You wanted to cry? You wanted to be scared, right?” Mandell said. “There’s some kind of emotional investment that you have in that film. So hopefully, the audience will be emotionally invested in the films and knowing that how these films were made … these are first-time filmmakers who are in a class and they produced that, that adds another layer to the experience.”
Mandell hopes the audience will come to appreciate the hard work and dedicated hours his students like Vo put into these films.
“The students know all of the hurdles and all of the ins and outs of their films. They can tell you why that shot’s there or how difficult it was to get [this shot],” Mandell said. “They have a story behind every aspect of it, but if you’re an audience member, all you see is what’s on the screen … That’s a really great part of the learning experience [for the students]. It’s not just making the film, but seeing how your film affects other people.”
Vo adds onto the idea of telling stories, and he believes filmmaking is just like any other catalyst of storytelling.
“As a filmmaker, [you tell the stories of] uniqueness in our individual humanities,” said. “We all really love telling stories together. And that's what's really important.”
According to the FTT department’s press release, tickets for each screening event range between $7 for the general public, $6 for faculty, staff and seniors (65+) and $4 for students and children.
“I hope you enjoy it, or I hope that you hate it, or I hope that you absolutely adore it, or I hope that you think it is the most disgusting thing in the world, but thanks for coming to watch it. And hopefully, we can all continue to do stuff like this,” Vo said. “But know that if you’re reading this, you’re also incredibly special. And whether you like movies or not, go out and have all of your own dreams.”
