Student filmmakers of all levels of expertise had the opportunity to showcase their work on the Challenger Center’s IMAX screen during Aquila Entertainment Group’s fifth annual Full Circle Film Fest on April 13. The Tallahassee-based broadcasting and media production company invited student filmmakers from all backgrounds to create and submit short films, encouraging students to pick up a camera (or a pen) and make a masterpiece.
Submissions included generative AI satires, slapstick superhero comedies, gory music videos, and more, creating a limitless range of themes and stories within the festival’s small program of shorts.
“There’s a lot of independent short films being shot by students at FSU, and almost all of those wonderful filmmakers were at the event,” FSU Digital Media Production (DMP) major and film fest award-winner Andrew Moore said to the FSView. “Aquila is unique [in comparison to the Tallahassee Film Festival] in how it’s more FSU-based and purely student-driven. It’s made by students for students.”
Full Circle Film Fest is an opportunity for young filmmakers
After seeing Aquila’s screenplay contest on her friends’ Instagrams and recognizing her lack of familiarity with acting, FSU theater major Makayla Whelchel opted to write.
“I had written a play earlier this year, and I was like, ‘Why not a screenplay?’ I submitted it to the festival, and I wasn’t sure what would happen, and then they chose mine to produce, and it was the coolest, most interesting experience ever,” Whelchel said to the FSView.
Whelchel’s short film “Beginning” explores a budding college romance formed around a shared love of chess. Largely taking place at a two-person table on the path between Florida State’s HCB and Bellamy buildings, the sentimental film is sure to charm the hearts of Tallahassee’s most romantic students.
DMP major Tristan Artiles crafted the Aquila-produced film “That’s a Good One, Chad!”, which was an unmissable standout within the festival’s program for its bold personification of generative AI.
“That’s a Good One, Chad!” depicts a pale, robotic man with a garish smile who incessantly requests water bottles from a nearby pizza shop; he becomes frustrated when he is eventually denied service. The film characterizes generative AI and ChatGPT (the water thief is quite aptly named Chad Gi Peti) as shallow impersonators of humans and thieves of Earth’s natural resources.
“[Aquila Entertainment] was very helpful and easy to work with on the short film. They are such a talented and passionate group of people, and it was refreshing to have a big group of people to lean on and delegate responsibilities,” Artiles said to the FSView. “I feel like Aquila has really solidified its position in student filmmaking with their festivals and meetings.”
Another film in the program that openly critiques the spread of generative AI is “Rebooting.” The film follows a man who finds solace communicating with an AI chatbot in the wake of his daughter’s passing. When the AI bot naturally fails, the man loses his sanity, fearing he has lost contact with the artificial replacement for his daughter.
These two films’ open criticism of generative AI and its shallowness relative to humanity’s capabilities coincides poetically with the festival’s ultimate mission of giving student filmmakers a place to screen their man-made films.
Audience members crown top films
The Full Circle Film Fest ended with an opportunity for audience members to vote for their favorite films by category. Films produced by Aquila Entertainment were barred from consideration due to their institutional advantage. There were three technical awards presented: “Tan Man Returns” by Chris Lopez, an Aquila Entertainment board member, won Best Editing; “El Rey De Pifo” by Santiago Salazar won Best Cinematography; and “Rebooting” won Best Writing.
Moore’s cocaine-fueled “Sudden Death” was the festival’s big winner, taking home the top prize of Audience Choice Award and Best Lead Performance for actor John Myers. Audiences might recognize the famed Tallahassee film destination, Cap City Video Lounge, as the film’s location — which is ironic considering the short takes place on a tense film set.
Moore’s short film is a testament to the small but powerful Tallahassee filmmaking community, as many of the festival attendees worked on “Sudden Death,” including Lopez.
“It didn’t feel like it was only for DMP kids or film school kids, it was for everyone,” Moore said to the FSView. “Anyone could realistically do what I did; it just takes the passion and determination to network and dedicate to a project. Creative people and filmmaking communities are everywhere; you just need to look under a couple of rocks to find them.”
The laughter, cheering, and clapping that ricocheted through the audience during and after each film are proof of Tallahassee’s supportive indie film community.
This year’s Full Circle Film Fest allowed audience members to celebrate independent student filmmaking with a varied selection of impassioned shorts. The crossing-over of faces and names between all twelve films underscores the fervent collaboration at the heart of Tallahassee’s student filmmaking community.
Grace Myatt and Hayden Milanovich are Staff Writers for the FSView & Florida Flambeau, the student-run, independent online news service for the FSU community. Email our staff at contact@fsview.com.
This article originally appeared on FSU News: Student filmmakers shine at Aquila’s Full Circle Film Fest
Reporting by Grace Myatt, Senior Staff Writer; Hayden Milanovich, Staff Writer, FSView / FSU News
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