Franklin & Marshall College

On February 28, award-winning filmmaker Lauren Wolkstein joins Professor Andy Bragen and his "Writing the Short Film" class. Wolkstein will present three short films; Cigarette Candy, The Strange Ones, and Social Butterfly, followed by a discussion exploring the relationship between the scripts and the films. 

Lauren Wolkstein was named one of the top twenty-five emerging filmmakers through The Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Independent Filmmaker Project's inaugural Emerging Visions Program at the 2011 New York Film Festival. Wolkstein received her MFA in film directing at Columbia University where her thesis film, Cigarette Candy, received the Adrienne Shelly Award for Best Female Director, Plum Pictures Most Promising Filmmaker Award, and Best Narrative Short at multiple film festivals including SXSW and Palm Springs International ShortFest. 

10 lucky F&M students were given an unprecedented opportunity when they were selected to attend the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, TX over spring break. Chaperoned by professor Jeremy Moss and production manager Zach Reese, the students spent 4 nights in a nothern Austin hotel, traveling into the downtown city every morning to delve into one of the world's most celebrated film cultures. Hotel stay and film badges (which got students into all film screenings, panels, and events in Austin) were fully paid for by F&M's Film Department.

Arriving on Saturday, 3/10 and staying until Wednesday, 3/14, students were given the opportunity to explore Texas' capitol at their leisure, traveling via shuttle to the various historical theatres situated throughout the city. Taking their pick of the hundreds of film screenings at their disposal, they set their busy schedules and relished in the feverish pulse of the festival. Students were even granted insider access to speak 1-on-1 with many of the filmmakers and movie stars that composed the film world around them. By Wednesday morning, our students were tired-out from their adventure, but sad to leave the festival circuit behind.

Look for posters and updates in September, for how YOU too can be selected for this unbelievable trip next Spring!

The weekend of 2/17-2/19 brought a new idea to life in F&M's film department. Kicking-off with a pizza party on Friday evening, and commencing with a Monday morning deadline, film students and non-film students alike were released with only a cell phone camera, a few basic rules, and their imaginations, chasing the sole goal of creating the best short film they can in a weekend's time. And a $300 prize awaited the winner!

The rules were simple; the only production equipment at their exposal was the video camera on their cell phones. No video should exceed 5 minutes in length. Groups of all sizes were welcome. Lastly, all submitted films must feature three elements: a red balloon, a reference to or image of Ben Franklin, and the Cool Hand Luke line "What we've got here is [a] failure to communicate." Integrating these elements became paramount to creating a successful short film.

When the dust settled on the weekend, 6 videos were finalized. These videos would go on to play to an anxious audience in Green Room Theatre on Friday 2/24. The screening marked the finale of the Wide Eyed Film Festival, and the individual cell phone videos were judged by the professional filmmakers highlighted earlier in the festival's line-up. Collaborating together, Matthew Porterfield, Alex Tyson, and Lauren Wolkstein picked a first, second, and third prize winner. To rave reviews by the judges and audience, the groups headed by Thomas Dolan, Mike DiAntonio, and Saif Uddin were given $300, $200, and $100 respectively, but also gained valuable problem-solving experience from a contest the film department is excited to re-visit next winter.

Please check out the winning entries on our Student Work Page.

February 22-24 was an exciting time for film at F&M. Unveiling our first ever professional film festival, held in Green Room Theatre, the film department brought in three up-and-coming filmmakers to share their work, ideas, and process with interested students.

The debut event on 2/22 featured Matthew Porterfield, the renowned filmmaker of Hamilton and brother of College President Dr. Dan Porterfield, showing his most recent feature release, Putty Hill, a film deserving of its acclaimed reviews. The second day of the Wide Eyed Film Festival brought us the work of two cutting-edge short filmmakers, Lauren Wolkstein and Alex Tyson. Lauren screened two of her narrative shorts, Cigarette Candy and The Strange Ones, while Alex shared his experimental film titled Baroque Suite.

All of the films were met with rave reviews from students and public guests at the festival. Interested participants were given the opportunity to meet, greet, and ask questions of the filmmakers at receptions and career talks held throughout the week. Matthew, Lauren, and Alex even acted as judges for our 1st Annual Student Cell Phone Video Contest. They presented awards to the winning students during the public screening on 2/24, the concluding event of a very successful festival. Thanks to all of those who participated in this year's Wide Eyed Film Festival, and we look forward to seeing even more of you next year!

The F&M short film Flutter by Siddharth Ganji, Ahmed Shaishab, and Saifuddin Ahmed recently won the Gold Remi Award in the College Level Student Productions category at the WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival.  Congratulations guys!

After graduation, Samar Husain started an internship at Aurora Films & Music in downtown Lancaster, where she worked mostly in post-production.  She also assisted in production; shooting interviews, getting B-roll at Kmart, and even working with a temper-mental smoke machine at a civil war reenactment.  

At the end of the summer, the internship developed into a full-time position as an editor for Aurora, and has allowed her love of editing to develop. The projects she works on range in nature from corporate pieces, commercials and marketing, to awareness pieces for non-profit organizations.  For her, editing is a perfect balance of technology and art: mastering the technology allows one's artistic vision to come through beautifully.  She says that the training she got at F&M on both the technical aspects of filmmaking as well as the etiquette of collaborative art, have helped her consistently.