A year’s work of student filmmaking culminated before an enthusiastic sold-out audience Saturday night at the State Theatre, 130 W. College Ave.
Thirteen student films showcasing the cream of the University Park crop were screened at the Student Film Organization’s Student Film Festival, including dramas, comedies, documentaries and experimental pieces — even a stop-motion short.
Five of the 13 selections were the result of senior theses, and these tended to be the crowd favorites. In addition to Sleep and Finding Ifftin, the senior films were rounded out by Champagne, Exploring the Harrows and Starface.
The racially charged content of Ifftin — which includes an 11-year-old biracial girl applying blackface make-up — drew plenty of uncomfortable pauses as the audience waited to see if it was appropriate to laugh.
But the film was well-received, and at least one festival-goer jokingly asked lead actress Dani Nichols for an autograph during the intermission.
Champagne followed the efforts of a group of restaurant workers who learn of a friend’s death during the busiest shift of the year and struggle to complete their work. The somber plot was bolstered by the uniformly strong performances.
The extended opening credits sequence of Exploring the Harrows, a serio-mockumentary about a struggling nomadic family, was met with cheers for everyone from the director on down the line. The comedy Starface, which closed the festival, received uproarious laughter all the way through the cameos from Mayor Bill Welch and Penn State President Graham Spanier in the credits.
Also garnering giggles and guffaws was the clever stop-motion Rock, Paper, Scissors, which featured a playful desktop battle between the three familiar elements.
In addition to the seniors’ straightforward narratives, the festival highlighted more impressionistic fare. Films such as All You Need Is Love, My City Sweetly and Still Life had little-to-no dialogue but impressive set design and visuals.
Even more unconventional were the disorienting The Road Not Taken and Holder, the latter featuring individuals in suits, who sported brown paper bag masks while mindlessly marching in an alley, reminiscent of the workers in the 1927 silent sci-fi classic Metropolis.
These shorts were balanced by documentaries such as The Uphill Climb, about a bicyclist’s recovery from a coma, and A Failure to Learn, which criticized the American school system’s support of “grade-oriented” education instead of a “learning-oriented” focus.
