UPAC Cinema hosts its fourth annual student film festival

The fourth annual film festival, hosted by UPAC Cinema, took place March 28 in DCC 308. The screening began at 8:30 pm and ran until 10:30 pm. Opening speeches were delivered by Film Festival Director Elliot Jeong ’25 and Senior Lecturer Elizabeth Press then the viewing began. The first two films centered around repetition and loops with “The 8:00AM Trailer” by Zachary Njenga ’28 taking a much more humorous approach while “Recursive” by Shawn Putnam built great tension through its fantastic editing. These were followed up by the second longest film of the main screening, “The Trial of Gil. T” by Jordan Costelo. “The Trial of Gil. T” was a little over 10 minutes long and depicted a goofy and unserious court trial with references to similar media such as Ace Attorney.

As one would expect, most of the films were recorded in various locations on campus. Unlike what one might expect, each film gave a new perspective on familiar, everyday spots, transforming them into something completely different. “Unspoken Words” by William Li ’25 was one of the best examples of this as it turned even West Hall and its surroundings into scenes straight out of any romantic montage found in popular movies. The content of the film, however, focused more on heartbreak and its aftermath than romance itself.

“Chains” by Jade Moynihan ’25 was the first of two unique entries. Rather than a traditional short film, “Chains” was actually a music video for a beautiful song made by Moynihan. The mood of the cinema completely changed as “Escape” by Isabele Lieber ’25 played next. “Escape” was the first of many films to cover themes of violence and crime. Using high tension chase and combat sequences, it told the story of a captive looking for freedom and what happens when they are pushed to the edge.

The audience was brought right back to hilarity and light-hearted fun with “The Heist” by Zachariah Williams. “The Heist” was a parody of typical heist films, replacing the usual roles with versions quite literally found off Craigslist. It managed to keep itself entirely unserious while also delivering the high-speed chase scenes action fans are always looking forward to. “The Collector” by Prem Singasane ’28 kept the humor going, depicting a short “horror” story about the constant emails students frequently get about their Bursar eBill. After this, a short ten-minute intermission was taken.

“Exist” by Raziuddin Mahmood ’G was the longest film of the screening with a total runtime of just under 19 minutes. It was also one of the most serious films shown, covering topics such as mental health and losing your way with an added layer of how AI can play a role in that. “le temps de fleurs” by Akhil Emmanuel ’27 was the second unique entry as it was entirely animated. Using Blender, Emmanuel created impeccable visuals to go along with peaceful French music. This was followed by the short and comedic “A Club Meeting” by Jacob Rappaport ’28, which included ping pong and the difficulties of scheduling.

“Bleak Night” by Jeong was also an incredibly serious film. With a runtime of almost 10 minutes, it managed to cover topics such as suicide and its relation to interpersonal connections and capture the complexity of such topics using amazing cinematography.

“The Hopeless Henchman” by Jay Shrestha ’275, “Buried Secrets” by Hibba Qureshi ’25, and “Inspection Day” by Shelby Kent ’27, played in that order, all covered the topic of crime and violence, doing so in very different ways. “The Hopeless Henchman” erred on the side of comedy, keeping things light with references to popular media like House and internet culture like the “To be continued” meme. “Buried Secrets” was the shortest of the three with a runtime of around one minute and, similar to “Recursive”, used incredible editing to build tension and fear in the audience. “Inspection Day” took the approach of a noir film, being of a more serious nature and using slight hints of color to build interest. It created complex visuals and an intriguing plot through its structure and the piecing together of different combat scenes.

After the two-hour screening, the award ceremony took place. Best Editing went to “Exist” by Mahmood, “Unspoken Words” by Li took home Best Screenplay, and “Escape” by Lieber won Best Acting. “Inspection Day” by Kent won two awards, both best cinematography and the Jury Special award. Emmanuel, who won the Grand Prize last year, submitted “le temps des fleurs” and won not only the award for Best Audio but also won the Grand Prize once again. A link to all of the films shown in the film festival can be found below, as well as additionally screened films that were screened after the ceremony.

Film festival part 1: https://youtu.be/5CqBGHwM9yU

Film festival part 2: https://youtu.be/IZcUIrQEZzI

Additional Screening: https://youtu.be/DxoVQkZdUOQ