Student filmmakers show off creativity at High Falls Film Festival

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Image from the The Piano, one of the student-produced films from RIT's School of Film Animation to be featured at High Falls International Film Festival

A talented group of student filmmakers from all over the world will showcase their work at the annual Rochester High Falls International Film Festival on May 17. This year marks the eighth consecutive year of RIT’s School of Film and Animation presence at this festival for women filmmakers.

The students’ films will be shown from 4:15 to 6:15 p.m. on May 17 at the Little Theatre, 240 East Ave. The films are animation and live-action works that range from documentaries to fictional to experimental.

The following is the list of films to be featured as part of the program called RIT Student Shorts: Women of SOFA:

• Molly Agnew (graduate student), Cucucachoo, a hand-drawn, pencil-on-paper animation about a little girl trying to overcome heredity
• Noelle Brandmier (third-year student), Jamie and Andy, a film about two boys sitting on a couch, just talking and the power behind a simple conversation
• Mei-Yu Chen (graduate student), Wish, a photo on a postcard inspires the creative imagination of some creatures in a small town
• Surbhi Dewan (graduate student), Time Will Tell, an experimental documentary about leaving home, treading into the unknown, and what happens after
• Melisande Fritzche (third-year student), All About Me (I), an abstract visual journey through a traumatic event that occurred in Fritzche’s life two years ago
• Melissa Fuss (third-year student), Paradigmatic Integration, an experimental visualization that combines alternative perspectives
• Kayla Gennrich, (fourth-year student), A Bond for Life, a story about the unique relationship that ensues between a kidney transplant recipient and the family of a deceased young man who decided to be an organ donor. The relationship grows as they attend the U.S. Transplant Games together, an Olympic-style event where transplant recipients compete in sports to demonstrate their second chance at life
• Erica Hardy (graduate student), The Inbetweener, an animated tale of a drawn-out evening
• Ting Lui (graduate student), The Lantern, an impressionistic computer animated work that reveals the relationship between a grandfather and his granddaughter, and a promise she has made. This work is based on the filmmaker’s own childhood memories of her grandfather and Chinese lanterns
• Caicai Lui (graduate student), The Piano, story of a Chinese girl and her mother
• Elizabeth Phillips (fourth-year student), Memory Collect, an experimental documentary on the exploration of personal mythology and our ties to memory
• Melissa Tierney (graduate student) and Adam DuShole (graduate student), It, an imaginative young girl and her friend take a game of tag to new heights

“Each year the works in the Women of SOFA program reveal the artistry and accomplishments of our women filmmakers,” says Nancy Ghertner, visiting professor in RIT’s School of Film and Animation and member of the programming committee.

Adds Stephanie Maxwell, RIT professor and a member of the programming committee, “This year’s program features some of the most stunning and thoughtful work ever produced in RIT’s School of Film and Animation.”