Caught on CameraStudent-run FilmMakers Society provides community of support
The filming of Sticks and Stones, directed by Konstantin Brazhnik (Col '07).
Photo courtesy of The FilmMakers Society |
As individuals, student filmmakers at U.Va. have a broad range of visions.
One peers inside a spacecraft and depicts Russian cosmonauts confronting their mortality. Another looks at the days of slavery at the University and examines the plight of a young woman who was raped. Yet another takes a whimsical look at family footage and pays homage to his grandmother on her birthday.
Such disparate topics come together in a common vision, however, within U.Va.’s FilmMakers Society (FMS). Members focus on sustaining a community that nurtures the creative efforts of students devoted to making movies.
"The community of filmmaking cannot be understated. We learn from each other best," says Meghan Eckman (Col ’00), a former president of FMS who runs a video production business in Charlottesville.
Through events such as the Salmagundi, Nickel Opera and Final Cut festivals, participating in the Virginia Film Festival, holding informal help sessions in the Digital Media Lab and constantly encouraging their brethren, FMS members keep creative juices flowing within the University and beyond.
Romulo Alejandro (Col ’07), for example, moved to Los Angeles after graduating from U.Va. and is putting together a short film, Bimbo Insurance, with Steve Robillard (Col ’07).
Alejandro’s ROSKOSMOS, about cosmonauts facing a fiery death, won accolades this year at Brown University’s Ivy Film Festival and the Rosebud Film Festival in Washington, D.C. He returned to Charlottesville last month to mentor high school teams in the Virginia Film Festival’s Adrenaline project, where students have 72 hours to conceive and produce a movie.
After the wear and tear of L.A., "I felt like I had recharged my batteries," says Alejandro, also a former FMS president.
The Adrenaline project also gave a jolt to Steve Quinn, FMS’ current president, when he was a second-year. "It was a great experience. It reinforced my decision to continue with filmmaking. After that, I just got more and more involved [with FMS]."
Quinn (Col ’08) plans to pursue a career in medicine rather than film, but making movies provides an important creative outlet.
Feeding that passion is at the heart of the society. Begun in the mid-1990s under a different name, the group supplements U.Va.’s film-theory classes with hands-on video production experience, particularly high-end projects. Students can check out cameras and other equipment through FMS, and many teach classes or simply help others at the Digital Media Lab.
Currently, there are about 60 dues-paying members, and they cast a wide net to draw in other visionaries. The Final Cut Showcase, for example, is a noncompetitive event open to any U.Va. student. The Salmagundi festival, on the other hand, draws students from around Virginia for competition in several categories.
The result is an array of opportunities and a springboard into a larger pool. Jarrett Lee Conaway (Col ’04) jumped from U.Va. to the University of Southern California’s film school and the finals of a TV reality show about up-and-coming filmmakers. Han West (Col’ 07), whose Happy Birthday Grandma won Rosebud’s jury prize, is in Singapore as a student in New York University’s film program.
"The striking thing that I see in the work produced by students at U.Va. is the level of professionalism," says Paul Wagner, an Emmy- and Oscar-winning filmmaker who teaches advanced film production in U.Va.’s Media Studies Program. "FMS is really the organization … that has stimulated and nurtured filmmaking at U.Va. by students.
"It’s really exciting for me to see."
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