FTT hosts 34th student Film Festival

By EMMA VALES news Writer

This weekend, n otre d ame’s Film, Television and Theatre (FTT) d epartment will host its 34th annual n otre d ame s tudent Film Festival in the d e b artolo Performing a rts c enter’s b rowning c inema.

Ten unique short films made by 20 different student filmmakers in n otre d ame’s FTT d epartment, both collaboratively and individually, will combine to put on a film festival open to the entire n otre d ame community. a udience members will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite film via text after each screening, and the student(s) who receive the most votes will be presented with an a udience c hoice a ward after the final screening.

The Film Festival will take place Friday and s aturday at 6:30 p.m. and s unday at 7 p.m.

Ted m andell, professor in the FTT d epartment and the founder of the festival, emphasized that attending the film festival is a great way to support oncampus student filmmaking and also “understand that we’ve got some very talented, creative students here on campus.” m andell said he was impressed with all of the films the students have prepared but noted that picking out a favorite would be like “picking a favorite child,” even when looking back at all of the films that students have produced for the last 34 years. m andell said he can recall each and every film his students have produced since the festival’s origin in 1990. h e emphasized that the filmmaking process is extremely collaborative, and “the faculty is just as invested in the process as the students.” s uneina b adoni, a senior filmmaker participating in the film festival, collaboratively filmed, produced and edited two films: “Tension” and “Lily.” Going into her n otre d ame education, b adoni wasn’t initially set on the FTT program, but after attending one of the admitted student days and talking to the professor m ichael Kackman at the FTT table at the majors fair, she decided to give it a try.

Just last year, three documentaries that premiered in the festival went on to be played in both Los a ngeles and n ew York Film Festivals. m andell describes the festival as “a launching pad,” as alums have gone on to work for s aturday n ight Live, n etflix, nbc and other entertainment companies.

“Tension,” a film that b adoni put together with classmates i sa r m aiz and Tianji Lukins in her i ntermediate Film Production class, was especially exciting for b adoni to make because it is a horror film about the struggle between a voodoo doll and b adoni’s friend m att, who acted in the film.

“ i t was really fun to shoot because we got to use a ton of cool equipment like huge rigs and lights that we checked out through the FTT office” b adoni notes. b adoni also teased a creative twist at the end of the film.

“Lily,” b adoni’s second film, was entered into the festival with classmate c hloe s tafford in their d ocumentary Production course with m andell. “Lily” is a documentary that features the daughter of b adoni’s uncle’s n otre d ame roommate, who suffers from epilepsy and has had up to 50 seizures a day since she was five weeks old. b ut since taking non-psychedelic medicinal mushrooms, Lily has been seizure-free for up to 20 weeks. i nspired by Lily’s story, b adoni and s tafford traveled to Los a ngeles during fall break to spend time with Lily’s family and capture Lily’s story for their documentary. r eflecting on her time at n otre d ame, b adoni said she’s grateful for the closeknit relationships that she’s developed with the FTT faculty and students and everything she’s learned in her classes. m aroshick also produced “ s ew Loved” in m andell’s d ocumentary Production class, and the assignment was to simply pick a documentary topic “pretty much anywhere in the country,” but m aroshick and Urban “fell in love with” and decided to choose a women’s organization right here in s outh b end that teaches underserved women in the local community general life skills, sewing in particular. m aroshick and Urban went to the center and filmed content for three days, developing close relationships with the women there. m aroshick says that it was a “super interesting experience and something that [she] definitely wouldn’t have gotten” had she not taken m andell’s class.

Liz m aroshick, another senior FTT student from b uffalo, n ew York, also contributed two films to this year’s festival: “ s ew Loved” with a bby Urban and “For b etter, For Worse” with o livia h sin.

The second film that m aroshick is contributing to the festival is “For b etter, For Worse,” a narrative fictional film made in her i ntermediate Filmmaking class. The class tunes into students’ more creative sides, allowing them to write creative scripts and experiment with new things such as unique lighting. m aroshick describes the film as “film noir meets modern day Tinder… kind of like a ‘dating-goes-wrong’ situation.” b oth b adoni and m aroshick encourage all students to attend the festival, as it is “a tangible way to show the n otre d ame community what the FTT students spend their time working on and what they are really passionate about.”

Tickets for the event can be purchased online at performingarts.nd.edu or in-person at the d e b artolo Performing a rts c enter ticket office. m andell advises everyone to “buy your tickets online because the event will sell out fast.”

Contact Emma Vale evales@nd.edu