By Genevieve Zahner ’26
News Editor
On Sunday, May 3, the Mount Holyoke department of film, media, and theatre held their fifth annual film festival, showcasing student films. According to the program, the films were:
“Women’s Room” by Ahava Arias ’28, Clara Canavan ’27, Danny Hernandez ’27, Cora Laroche ’26, Jasmine Thomas ’26, “Siempre Soñando” by Jasmine Garcia-De Los Santos ’27, “Lost in Time” by Hollie Cornish ’26, “A Yearning” by Charlie Penna ’27, “Out Loud” by Lily Ariel Mueller ’26, “Mind Loaded or, What I See When I Look at Cards” by Namuuna Negi ’27, “Exhibit S” by Sara Sabry ’28, “LE FALTON SAZON” by Tati Martinez Alvarez ’28, “Losing You” by Amaya Fernando ’28, “Dance Macabre” by Emma Pedroni-Meyer ’26, “Here, There, and Everywhere” by Vania Correia Almeida ’27, “Overthinking It” by Autumn Gebhardt ’26, “Cultural Survival Guide” by Jiayin “Winnie” Wu ’28, “Noise” by Emma Pedroni-Meyer ’26, and “Off Balance” by Hollie Cornish ’26, Autumn Gebhardt ’26, Cristina Lopez Mendoza ’27, Lily Ariel Mueller ’26, Gianna Scott ’26 and Jiayin “Winnie” Wu ’28.
Autumn Gebhardt ’26 and Ria Miller ’26 co-directed the film festival, and of the experience, Gebhardt said in an email to Mount Holyoke News, “Flonia [Telegrafi] recruited Ria and me as the co-directors for this year's festival back in the fall, and we were both super excited to do it.”
“We've had meetings with Flonia all throughout this semester to check in on our progress and talk through the next steps. We've created and circulated publicity materials for the Call for Submissions and the festival itself (posters, trailers, announcements, etc.); collaborated with Amanda Dumais (FMT department coordinator) to put in the catering order, book the space and tech support, and other important tasks involving budgets and logistics; and put together the festival screener with the selected films,” Gebhardt wrote. The process was selective, with 15 films being screened out of 32 submissions.
In addition to co-directing the festival, Gebhardt also acted in two short films and created their own film, “Overthinking It,” and co-created the film “Off Balance.” With acting, it all fell into place out of chance for Gebhardt, saying “I didn't really audition for either of the projects I acted in. Lily only received one audition for Out Loud, and they weren't going to be able to make the film if they couldn't find someone else to fill the other role, so I offered to do it.”
As for “Losing You,” Gebhardt wrote, “I was initially just going to be on her crew, but I ended up acting because she wanted someone who could play guitar (and I fit the bill).” Additionally, “I was especially happy to get to collaborate with Amaya like that.”
On the production process for the two films she created, Gebhardt said, “Overthinking It came together remarkably quickly, as I needed to get the whole thing shot very shortly after it was written and cast due to conflicts with my schedule later on in the month. I put out a call for self-tape auditions and received one from the incredibly talented Betty Liao ’27, and then I asked my good friend Lily Mueller ’26 (director of Out Loud) if they'd be willing to fill the other role.”
The film was shot in just four hours, in order to fit the tight timeline. For “Off Balance,” Gebhardt said, “I directed one of the scenes, and I did sound for the rest. Sound is one of my favorite jobs to have on set, and it's easily my favorite part of editing as well. We were working with three channels of audio, including two lavalier mics that were worn by the actors, and the boom mic, which I was holding up for every take. I get really tuned into the way audio cuts together, and I have a lot of fun smoothing things out in the edit and bringing in additional sound to elevate the scenes. It's sort of my filmmaking niche when I'm not working on solo projects, and I was really happy to have an opportunity to be in my element for this project.”
Hollie Cornish ’26, an international student from Wales, worked on two projects for the film festival, her independent film “Lost in Time” and group project “Off Balance.” Cornish wrote bout the experience with “Off Balance,” in an email to Mount Holyoke News:, “We decided to combine 3 of our ideas into one to form what became ‘Off-Balance.’ My pitch was about an athlete who struggles with the fear of failure, and this was a part of the inspiration for this film. We also took concepts from 2 other pitches, including having the athlete begin to hallucinate in the form of notes being left in her locker. I was very enthusiastic about shooting a fight scene, so one of our focuses was on finding a way to build up to this point.”
“I had the most fun coming up with unique shot ideas. I created a storyboard for the fight sequence after it had been choreographed (choreographed by Lex Canon – very talented!) to help figure out where to position the camera within this scene to keep the audience engaged.,” Cornish stated.
Speaking on the experience of working on “Lost in Time,” a film made for a 16 millimeter film class she took at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Cornish said, “I came to Mount Holyoke as an international student from Wales, and I unexpectedly made a lot of international friends here, so I was inspired to create a film that incorporates a small selection of places that people are from on this campus. I wanted the film to touch on the passage of time and the importance of living in the moment. My time at Mount Holyoke passed a lot quicker than I expected and hoped for, and I’m sure many others can relate.” 16 millimeter film cameras were launched in 1923, therefore present a unique look and feel to films. Cornish mentioned that “Lost in Time” was an emotional experience to see it come together, as well as in post production.
“This film isn’t like anything I’ve done before, so it was fun to experiment with and come up with ideas to incorporate a range of languages in a short amount of time.” She thanks Gebhardt and Miller for co-directing the film festival, as well as Professor Dien Vo, whose class several of the films came from. Gebhardt encourages students to lookout for information regarding next year’s festival, and that “Submitting and having your work screened is such a great experience to have, and I would encourage everyone who will be working on films in the coming year to give it a go!” Cornish stated.
Quill Nishi-Leonard ’27 contributed fact-checking.