PennWest film, photography and animation students will walk the red carpet during the fall 2024 Media Showcase, which kicks off at 8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12, in the multipurpose room of Frank G. Pogue Student Center. Doors open at 7:15 p.m.
The event, which is free and open to the public, will feature a range of student-produced live-action films, photography and animation. Work by 60 photographers and 60 filmmakers across multiple levels of instruction and achievement will be on display.
“December's audience will see some of the most impressive student documentaries we've yet premiered,” said award-winning filmmaker and PennWest faculty member Brian Fuller. “Profiles of a drum line, a vintage clothing reseller and a woodworker reveal creative processes in truly beautiful footage.”
Two narratives are also set to premiere: “Followed” addresses the dangers of walking the night streets alone, and “Alexas from Texas” is a cautionary tale about cyber surveillance.
Upper-level photo students will present experiments with lenses and light, while introductory-level film students will share their discoveries in the complexities of camera movement and audio.
“The reward of public screening ennobles a filmmaker's work at just the time in the creative process they most need affirmation,” Fuller said. “They are reliably and magically transformed into people who cannot wait to make the next film.”
In addition to the annual Media Showcase, art students share their work each spring during the Dave Weinkauf Film Festival. Professor David Weinkauf created the cinema program at Edinboro in the 1970s.
“Both the fall showcase and spring festival offer rare opportunities for filmmakers to gauge audience response to their art – not in the comments section, but in real time,” Fuller said. “‘Did they laugh when I thought they would? Did they react the ways I predicted?’ These are questions that can only be answered by public screenings of film.”
Fuller said the events continue to grow each year. More than 300 popcorn-eating moviegoers attended the fall 2023 Media Showcase.
“The events also let students rehearse professional comportment for face-to-face social networking,” he said. “Making eye contact, starting conversations, demonstrating interest in the work of others, exchanging contact information, dressing as they might for a job interview — these are working world skills that we can only model at purposeful, in-person affairs.”
The 2025 Dave Weinkauf Film Festival is scheduled for May 1.
Pictured: PennWest Philm Aides Makayla King, Ryan Hess, Brett Borland, Jared Bupp, Riley Francis and KT Reihner pose with Professor Brian Fuller at the 2023 Media Showcase.