On Tuesday, May 8 students gathered in Pigott Auditorium to watch student-submitted films. They weren’t limited in style, experience, length (the shortest films were only minute long) or genre. 24 films total combined for one hour and 56 minute long festival

For the past seven years, Seattle University Film Festival (SUFF) has been hosted by the Media Production Center (MPC) and the film-making club at Seattle University, the SU Filmmakers.

“We started it as a celebration of our student work. Especially given the current climate of things and debates on campus, it’s one more event that is completely inclusive,” MPC Manager Jamie Peterson said. “You know, we don’t have restraints on the genres or themes, or anything like that, so you get a really good cross-section of students participating from all over campus. Nursing students, math students, and engineering students, it’s not just communication and film studies. It’s one more celebration event for everybody.”

Because there were no restraints on submissions, students were free to submit everything that they had worked on. Whether it was originally produced for a competition or for a class, many different kinds of films were premiered.

Some of the films were made for various events including the Earth Day Video Contest and the SU Filmmakers 48-Hour Film Festival. Some of the films were news packages, while others were created just because the producers had a story to tell.

Kyle Huber, a senior majoring in Individualized Business Administration submitted his film, “Leave It As It Is” to SUFF this year. His six-minute film is about the preservation of natural wonders in the United States, focusing on the Grand Canyon, the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Bears Ears National Monument and Horseshoe Bend. Huber and his friend filmed these wonders as they were mountain biking.

“I’m a transfer student from last quarter, so I’m new to the school and I kind of wanted to get involved with the film program here as a business student,” Huber said. “It’s something I’m interested in, to try to get into the film industry during my career so I’ve gotten to know some of the film students and yeah, I just heard about the event through Jamie and figured I’d put in a film.”

At the end of the festival, the best three films were decided by an anonymous jury and were presented with Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) vouchers, Amazon Gift Certificates and other goodies.

Andy Volk’s “No Stars,” which received third place, was about a boy dealing with the death of his childhood best friend with whom he shared the dream to travel into space.

Barb Hoffman won second place with her film called “Sweet Dreams”. A magazine cut-out stop motion animation film, Hoffman animated her dreams in the film.

Amy Williams’ film comedic film titled “Robert J. Daily’s Post Bucket-Kicking Bucket List” won first prize. Originally created for the 48-hour film festival, the film needed to include an envelope and something being dropped. The film is about two sons fulfilling their father’s last wishes outlined in his Post Bucket-Kicking Bucket List in order to receive something from his will.

Nils Gollersrud, the President of SU Filmmakers submitted “Flip and Flop: The Extended Cut,” about two aliens who brainwash people to make eco-friendly decisions.

“I love going to SUFF, it’s so much fun,” Gollersrud said. “You go there and there’s so many great films made by students. It’s just really inspiring to watch. I remember my freshman year I went, and I hadn’t taken any film classes. I didn’t know anything about how to make a film. I just remember after it was over, I really wanted to make something. I didn’t know how but I was just like super inspired.”

Searching“SUFF 2018” on YouTube will pull up all of the films that were shown. “No Stars,” “Sweet Dreams” and “Robert J. Daily’s Post Bucket-Kicking Bucket List” are all available for at-home viewing.

Rania may be reached at
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