A program of short Pa. student films, selected by Bucknell’s Film Exhibition and Programming class, will be shown Sunday, April 28 in the Campus Theatre.
LEWISBURG, Pa. — The Bucknell Intercollegiate Film Festival (BIFF) will showcase the best and brightest young collegiate filmmakers in Pennsylvania by presenting premieres of their short films (each no longer than 15 minutes) on Sunday, April 28, at 7 p.m., in the Campus Theatre, 413 Market St, Lewisburg. The event is free and open to the public.
The student-run festival has a mission to showcase films made by Pennsylvania college students. The festival program will be approximately 80 minutes long and feature around 12 students films, selected by the 14 students in Bucknell’s Film Exhibition and Programming class in the English — Film/Media Studies program.
This year BIFF received over 100 submissions. “Every film was seen by at least two students in the class who serve as pre-screeners. Then the film goes on to the programming committee,” says Gana Mukhtar ’24, a member of BIFF’s publicity committee. There are discussions and passionate debates.“Then we vote on those films that make it through and a certain number rise to the top. We make final decisions on the number of films based on the allotted programming time.”
Following the screening of all the selected films, the student filmmakers will be invited on stage to answer questions from the audience. The program will conclude with a reception and an awards’ ceremony in which the recipients of the top juried and audience awards will be announced.
“Watching student films, especially with the filmmakers who made them, is one of the most fun experiences you can have in a theater,” says Jamie Granato ’25, who serves on the festival’s events and pre-screener committees. “There’s this really unique and exciting energy watching the hard work of your peers and seeing how they’re growing as artists, completely different from watching a feature film from big studios and directors. And I can say personally, the chance to see your film in a venue and on a screen as stunning and huge as The Campus Theatre is an opportunity that not a lot of student filmmakers have, which makes the festival really special.”
Concessions will be available during the festival.
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CONTACTS: Rebecca Meyers, academic film programmer and lecturer, 570-577-1439, rebecca.meyers@bucknell.edu; Gana Mukhtar ’24, g.mukhtar@bucknell.edu; Mike Ferlazzo, 570-577-3212, 570-238-6266 (c), mike.ferlazzo@bucknell.edu