Ten short films by student directors, actors, producers and cinematographers premiered Tuesday at the Maryland Filmmakers Fall Film Festival, showcasing student talent at the Hoff Theater.

At the beginning of the semester, the club’s leadership greenlit several films to be shown at the festival, said club president Ilana Maiman, a senior cinema and media studies major. In addition to films produced by members of the club, the Filmmakers accepted admissions for projects from outside students about a month before the festival.

The event showcased a wide variety in both thematic content and film style. Comedy, horror, drama and even documentaries and music videos were all present — something which Maiman attributed to the differences in creativity among the creators.

“We’re not super hands-on,” she said. “We’re mostly just like, ‘here’s a group of people who all want to make stuff. You’re a director, go make stuff.’”

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Maiman also directed and starred in her own film, an experimental horror short titled Lovesick, featuring lots of fake blood and Maiman eating a teddy bear. She referred to this as her favorite moment from the film.

In her role as president, Maiman assists club directors with their projects in whatever capacity needed, such as editing scripts to make them feasible for production.

“She helped dial back scenes and props … [while] keeping the essence of the story,” said Zoe Price, a junior cinema and media studies working on a project for the spring. “She’s basically my organizer, because I’m very inexperienced and very unorganized.”

Kenneth Klepsig, a sophomore government and politics and psychology major, directed Color Your Night, in which he sought to represent neurodivergent college students.

Klepsig’s approach differed heavily from the short film he made last year — a 17-minute long comedy — pivoting this semester to a shorter drama. He said the film is inspired by his personal experience as a neurodivergent student as well as I Saw the TV Glow by Jane Schoenbrun and a video game called Persona 3.

“The biggest issue that a lot of directors face, that they don’t expect, is time crunch,” he said of the obstacles he faced during production. “Writing takes a long time, especially to get your script to a point you’re comfortable with.”

The film largely takes place in a party scene, which draws out the internal and visible anxiety faced by the lead character. Klepsig had to plan and operate quickly to use the apartment set and manage all the extras to get his shots.

Klepsig also assistant directed My Best Friend Maria with a filmmaker from another club at this university, Veritas Short Films. Their horror short follows the misguided attempt of a grieving teenager to resurrect her deceased best friend. The style was starkly different from Klepsig’s other featured short, as this one was shot entirely in black and white with vivid, haunting images.

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Obsessed, produced by senior criminology and criminal justice and cinema and media studies major Jack-Brittan Powell, stood out as the lone documentary. The film provided an intimate look at obsessive-compulsive disorder through man on the street interviews and in-depth, sit-down conversations with people afflicted with the condition.

The event was closed out by a music video for AJR’s “Inertia,” directed and starred in by Dylan Speiser, a senior computer engineering major.

“We always have a really solid variety,” Maiman said. “It’s one of the strengths of the club.”