CSU student film festival
- May 5
- 6 min read
Attend the film school’s student film festival as they spotlight film projects from this year.
Written by Evan Peters
Every year, the Cleveland State University (CSU) School of Film & Media Arts holds a student film festival dedicated to showing the short films that seniors and underclassmen have worked relentlessly on the whole year – if not longer. Students submit their projects to the festival based on guidelines given by the school, where a jury will then sift through the material submitted.
The jury then handpicks a small number for their storytelling and creativity to be viewed at the festival. After the showing, awards are then given and the crowd is able to vote on the “Audience Choice Award.”
The festival is a way for students to show their hard work from the entire year. In the beginning of the fall semester (or before it even starts), students begin writing scripts, casting, choosing their production crew, scouting shoot locations and choosing set dates.
When each individual finishes their own film, it does not end there. Many of them take on different roles in each other’s films, meaning they’re booked and busy throughout the entire semester, not just a portion. Most shoots take place each weekend, eating up a lot of students' free time. Despite this, many of these students would not pass up the opportunity if given the chance.
“My goal for this semester was to work on as many films as I could, but since I made that goal, I have not had a weekend where I wasn’t working on a set,” Cameron Haring, 22, said. “I’m so glad I did that because it gave me new on-set experiences I’ve never had before, and it gave me more appreciation for my future career.”
Haring is a senior film and media arts major on the writing and directing track. This past year, along with the other sets he’s worked on, Haring wrote and directed the film “Electric Snow Viper.” The short film tells a story about an ‘80s nightclub owner realizing the demographic of patrons is changing, forcing him to make the decision on whether to “hand the keys” over to a new owner after an eventful night.
“It was a lot of fun creating this project because it was such a cool idea of shooting in a club and showing off club culture,” Haring said about the process. “It could be tedious at times because there’s funding, locations, casting, scheduling and shot lists, and they’re all crucial to the story you want to tell, but each time you finish one aspect of your preproduction, you're one step closer to making your film happen.”
Another student who had a crucial role in Haring’s film, and others, was Leigha Dossa, a senior film and media arts major on the cinematography track. Dossa was Haring’s cinematographer, who is the person in charge of recording the film and overseeing the camera and lighting crews.
Dossa worked with Haring from the very beginning when creating his film. In order to capture the time period of the film, Dossa said she and Haring worked very hard on researching for accuracy by reading books, watching movies and going to clubs to really understand the culture and how it has changed.
While the film reflects that change, Dossa also wanted to capture the difference of how clubs used to be asylums for people to escape the political landscape and world around them, instead of it now being for capitalist gain.
“During the ‘80s and the AIDS epidemic, many people found asylum in their communities, something I find to be the most important and underrated aspects of youth culture,” Dossa, 22, said. “We wanted to emphasize the club and the general culture then to the lack of culture seen in clubs today. Capitalism has invaded an industry that used to be fueled by young people who needed to find a niche community of acceptance.”
Dossa believes that finding a community to escape to is important, especially since she had seen the effects that social media played during the COVID-19 pandemic. She described social media as an artificial world where people can create their own image. Dossa said that “Electric Snow Viper” wants to remind people of finding true community among others.
“Clubbing has always been a space to let yourself go and social media has taken away from this original idea,” Dossa said. “Nightlife seems unimportant to a general context, but its history is so important in allowing marginalized groups to live freely while being able to express yourself.”
Another senior film and media arts major on the writing and directing track, Ameena Sawan, wrote and directed her film this past year to also be submitted to the festival. Sawan, along with cowriter Natalie Vrobel, wrote the film “I’ll Be There,” telling the story of a struggling addict who finds herself back at her childhood home where she must confront buried, traumatic memories.
Sawan said she was very proactive in her process of creating the film, describing months of frequent meetings with different department heads during the preproduction process. After creating 13 different drafts of the script, they first began filming outdoor shots this past winter to “get it over with” the first weekend of the shoot before moving inside the next weekend. Regarding each individual shoot day, Sawan spent much of her time with the actors and supporting them.
“Despite my role as director, I prioritized my time with the actors, as I had already worked for months dealing with the creative vision and trusting my crew to execute it,” Sawan, 21, said. “ I would check in on them and make sure they were eating, resting, drinking water and staying warm. We had already rehearsed their performances, so directing them was just a matter of small tweaks and different options.”
The crew that helped to bring her film to life, including the actors, was made up of about 15-20 people on set. Sawan repeatedly stated how appreciative she was to everyone involved.
“I was so grateful for my crew because they treated me incredibly on set and didn’t come to me unless they absolutely needed to, so I was able to spend more time with the actors,” Sawan said. “I was so proud and grateful for all of the hard work the crew and cast put into this.”
All of the students involved spent much of their free time on these films. Richard J. Bryer, another senior film and media arts major on the writing and directing track, said people should go to the festival because they put their “blood, sweat and tears into it,” followed by a chuckle.
“There are so many amazing films that are produced through the Film & Media Arts program at CSU. It’s a shame that the program is generally ‘unknown’ compared to the rest of campus,” Bryer, 24, said. “Plenty of our alumni have had success in other festivals, including the Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF), one of the biggest festivals in the nation.”
While Bryer is no stranger to CIFF, as his short film “CHARGER” was shown at the festival this past month, Bryer began writing his short film “What’s My Sign Again?” in April 2023, and began preproduction in June 2024 after wrapping on “CHARGER.”
“What’s My Sign Again?” is a teen comedy based in the early 2000s about a science geek that discovers his crush worships astrology, so he begins to build a machine to alter the position of the stars to make them truly compatible. Bryer wrote this film because he believes astrology, tarot card readings and personality tests shouldn’t prohibit someone from making a connection with another person, despite his own love for them.
He shared that he loves the irony of his short film, as he enjoys making teen comedies due to their “campy and deadpan humor.” Bryer said he wanted to continue making these kinds of movies after he graduates, as he already has some in the works.
“[After graduating], I plan on focusing on writing. I’m currently workshopping a rom-com in the style of a screwball comedy. I also really want to do an ‘80s style vampire movie, but don’t worry, those two ideas aren’t connected,” said Bryer.
While the four of them, Haring, Dossa, Sawan and Bryer, plan on moving together to New York City to pursue their careers’ in the coming years, for now they’re focusing on submissions for the festival at the end of the semester.
This year’s festival is May 7 at 6 p.m. in Berkman Hall. Look out for more information on the film school’s Instagram, @csufilmschool, and attend the screening for free. Also support these artists and view their content and films on Instagram (@cam.haring, @leighadossa, @_ameemo and @richardjbryer).
