The Division of Film is premiering 13 films by MFA students this Saturday.
After months of writing, shooting and editing, the Division of Film’s second-year students are prepared to premiere their films to the public.
The films will be shown at The Athena Cinema, 20 S. Court St., Saturday. These are the films the students refined from their first-year.
“We’ve all made two movies so far,” Kramer Ditty, a second-year film student, said. “One 16mm black and white (film) and one documentary.”
Out of the 13 films premiering Saturday, 12 are the 16mm while only one is the documentary.
“All of us are in (the program) in order to develop narratives,” Daniel Agüera who came to OU from Colombia to study film, said. “I directed a film called Rocks. It centers around a lonely guy who is obsessed with rocks, and it leads to a kidnapping.”
The film plots are not confined to one genre — no two films are remotely similar. Stories range from “psychic thrillers” about clairvoyant mothers to dark comedies about waiting for a phone call. Meanwhile, Yaphet Jackman, a second-year film student, described another as “a fun little piece about unconventional romance that is disgusting to some and interesting to others.”
All the scripts are original works produced by the directors alone, however editing and refining their raw footage became a communal project. Sitting in the bellows of 31 S. Court St., the class became a watercooler for a never-ending free-flow of ideas.
“We all wrote our own scripts, but we workshopped together,” Meredith Kelly, a first-year film student. “We all worked in three-person groups with partners in class, but none of us have seen each other’s finished work. We’re pretty excited.”
Actors featured in the films are predominantly from the theater program, yet several directors hired professional actors. One actually hired local children.
“My 3-year-old was the best actor I ever had,” Dylan Dyer, one of the directors, said.
The only student who did choose her documentary, Sarah Kadish, profiled a local icon.
“My film is a documentary about an indie pro wrestler from Nelsonville.” Kadish said. “I documented Auto Von Boogie Monster and his pursuit to achieve his goals while trying to maintain his relationship with his daughter.”
While the directors appear confident in their work, visiting assistant professor Steve DeJarnatt said they “gotta make some mistakes before they're directors.”
@broermazing
mb503414@ohio.edu
