Montclair’s Students Films Screening At MFF
Montclair’s 6th annual Film Festival will be showing over 150 features and shorts from April 28 to May 7 this year, in six separate venues. Of these films, seven short films will be screening from Montclair State University’s students. These seven shorts will be showing Thursday, May 4th at 7:00pm at the Clairidge Cinema. Ranging from eight to 14 minutes, these seven student film directors get to live every filmmaker’s dream: to have their film shown on the big screen.
One such student’s short is called “A Crib” by Jake Shapiro. This is his first film submission as a director that will be viewed at the film festival. The Philadelphia native graduated last May with a B.F.A. in filmmaking but was asked by the faculty to submit his film after noticing he had great potential. His film tells the story of a marriage that is strained when they have a miscarriage, which stars students John Rosado and Sarah Grace Sanders.
“The story of this film comes from family history. At a certain age my parents revealed to my brother and I some of the hardships and heartaches they had endured, and the idea of making a film about the love of parents became important to me,” said the 23 year old. “At the same time, I was going through a really difficult breakup after five years together, and I kind of needed to make a film about loss. I didn’t want to make a ‘break-up movie,’ and so this story allowed me to imbue that theme of loss in a very healing, but not overly open-journal type of way.”
Having to raise $2,000 for the 14 minute film, it is easy to say that Shapiro knows what he’s doing. He has had over eight years of experience behind a camera. His qualifications include directing four short films, one short-subject documentary, and multiple self-made films, however he specializes in cinematography. He has Montclair State to thank for his growing experiences.
“MSU’s film program has some very supportive and passionate professors. It’s changing all the time, but the best thing about it is the sheer number of films that are being made by students all the time,” said the alumnus. “I found myself working on films every second-to-last week of almost every semester of my tenure there. You learn a hell of a lot that way, and having that much experience on films where experimentation is encouraged and mistakes are forgiven, is a huge benefit.”
Lise Raven, a film teacher at the University selects which students will show their short films before they are sent to Montclair’s festival. The award-winning filmmaker creates both narrative and documentary films. Raven’s films include, “Low” which was screened in over 30 film festivals, internationally, “Snipe,” and “Kinderwald,” which is the second part of “The Kinderwald Trilogy,” a trilogy of films about fairy tales of children lost in the woods.
“For the main festival you submit the film on their site. For the student one you have to email Lise Raven,” said Samuel Mitchell, a junior filmmaker. “She’s the one who chose my film, freshman year, called Misfire to be screened at the festival.”
Tiara Montgomery is another Montclair State alumni whose film “Hi, My Name Is” will be screening alongside Shapiro’s. This 11 minute film is about a paid catfish who is hired to meet her clients’ dates in disguise and end their online relationships by any means necessary. After finishing a job one night, a persistent matchmaker, whose business has been suffering because of her, threatens to report her for fraud.
“The idea behind my film came about after I came back from studying abroad in Japan,” said the 27 year old. “While there, I learned about the concept of ‘honne’ and ‘tatemae.’ Honne is the side of one’s self that is shown to close family and friends, whereas tatemae is the side shown to the public. This intrigued me and I decided that I wanted to make a light-hearted film about honesty.”
The graduate, who has been working on films for five years, has made four films during her education at the university. This is her first film to be screened at any festival but hopes more than anything that the audience enjoys her film. She says she has her teacher to thank for the opportunity to be in the festival.
“My film professor, Lise Raven helped me submit my film into the festival. Even though I’ve graduated, she keeps me updated on any festivals she finds that I could possibly enter,” said Montgomery.
Tiara Montgomery said the film program is structured to give students a solid foundation during the first year. Then during their second and third year, exposes students to and gives them first-hand experience with the different areas of filmmaking. During their last year, the university prepares them to not only make a film they will be proud of, but also to enter the film industry.
Since its genesis in 2011, the festival has become more popular every year with people such as Stephen Colbert having been an audience member. The Film Festival’s theme this year is action. The website says, “each of the seven visually powerful and emotionally moving short films carries you on a brilliantly crafted journey towards one singularly defining moment in a character’s life.”
The students films from Montclair State University include: “The Archivist” by Gregory Buracker, “Church” by Stephen Bodossian, “Hi, My Name Is” by Tiara Montgomery, “Red” by Peter Dolshun, “Sell Out” by Kim Hill, and “Tiny Worlds” by Alexa Werrlein.
