The Female Film Initiative hosted a student film showcase in the Center for Visual Arts on May 2 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
This showcase was open to all members of the public and any student was able to submit a film.
Typically, Kent State University or student media hosts a showcase to show off the work of digital media production students, but when it looked like that was not going to happen, FFI stepped up to the plate.
FFI is a film club where young women can create, direct, produce, act in and write their own films, and is the only club on campus centered around film and production that is not a part of student media.
Bailey Fair, a senior digital media production major and vice president of the club, said this event was different from any other event FFI has put on.
“FFI hosting it means a lot to us,” Fair said. “It also kind of gives us a little bit of a chip on our shoulder that if no one else is gonna put it on, the women will put it on and we’ll do it right.”
While the event required a lot of work to put on, film students are used to collaborating and working together to get things done in a short period of time.
In fact, Fair’s favorite part of working in film is the collaboration.
“It is hard sometimes to let other people take the lead on things … usually someone else will have an idea that’s just as good or better, realizing that and incorporating that is always better for the project,” Fair said. “So just kind of the spur of the moment collaboration is like one of things that I love. I love being on set, kind of the chaos of it … when you’re with people that really care, it always works out and that’s just a very exciting and inspiring environment.”
The showcase’s structure was inspired by that of many other film festivals; the event was divided into blocks of different genres of film.
At the end of the event a QR code was displayed so attendees could vote on their favorite film from each block.
There were four different blocks: “That Didn’t Go as Planned,” “Letting it Hurt,” “It’s Getting Strange” and “Off Script.”
“That Didn’t Go as Planned” was the first block and was composed of all female directed films that centered around stories of love and coming of age.
FFI intentionally made this block first so that female led films are the first thing the audience sees.
“There are so many films that get it wrong, of like, women’s experiences,” Fair said. “So we are excited to show ones that are made by women that we know for sure got it right.”
“What We Missed,” directed by Saida Lewis, won for the block. The film was a rom-com style short film about two friends creating a bucket list of dates their exes never let them do and then doing it together. Over time, tension builds and the pair start to fall in love.
“Letting it Hurt,” was a block about grief and loss; stories in this block dealt with the aftermath of the death of a loved one.
“A Bed of Lilies,” directed by Matthew Auman, won for this block and told the story of a young married couple with a baby on the way. After leaving work, the wife dies in a car accident and her husband struggles to accept her death and the death of their unborn baby.
For all things sci-fi, “It’s Getting Strange” covers short films with plots of futuristic universes, humanoids and all things, well, strange.
Griffin Owen directed the winner for this category, “Brainfog,” which is the story of a man who discovers a sentient brain in a jar.
A documentary on the digital media production program at Kent State won for the last section, “Off Script.“ This film, “Behind the Frame” showcased the experiences that professors, current students and alumni got out of the program.
Emilia Jacobson is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].
