The fifth annual Trinity Film Festival, a showcase of short films made by college students from around the country, will be Saturday, May 7, at Cinestudio, 300 Summit St., on the campus of Trinity College in Hartford.
One of the filmmakers this year is Jon Alston, a former linebacker for the St. Louis Rams and the Oakland Raiders. Alston returned to Stanford after leaving the NFL to pursue a degree in filmmaking. He made “Here I Am,” a film about a homeless man in San Francisco. “Here I Am” is one of the films to focus on socially conscious themes. Almost all the filmmakers will be present.
Other films and their creators are “An (Un)Original Short Film” by Nicholas Mastrangelo of University of Hartford; “Anything To Help” by Arshum Rouhanian of American University in Washington, D.C.; “Bitterpill” by Daming Xing of Trinity College; “Classic Night” by Renata Charikiopoulis of the School Of Cité Cinéma Et Télévision in France; “Deus Ex Machina” by Armani Martin of Clark Atlanta University; “Generation Girl” by Anna Blum of Vassar College; “Good Stuff” by Gabriel Mirasol of Rochester Institute of Technology; “Hawt Yoga” by Lane Lyle of Chapman University in Orange, Calif.; “Human Sexuality” by Jenny Arasi and Vivian Zingleman of University of Georgia; “Journey’s Peak” by Kathleen Kirkman of Rochester Institute of Technology; “S P A C E S” by Caroline Grell of Elon (N.C.) University; “Sparks” by Tancredi Di Paola of Loyola Marymount University; “Star,” by Brynna White of Digipen Institute of Technology in Redmond, Wash.; “Stay & Run” by Liam Hall of Elon University; “Tamaraw” by Miguel Mirasol of Rochester Institute of Technology; “The Day I Was Adopted” by Sarah Haber of York University in Toronto; “The Defining Moments” by Grant Chemidlin of Villanova University; “The Experiment” by James Graham of Middlebury (Vt.) College; “The Odds” by Jeremy Rovny of University of Texas at Arlington; “The Sail” by Anna Taberko of Minneapolis College of Art and Design; “The Wishgranter” by Echo Wu and Kal Athannassov of Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Fla.; “Eleven Years” by Madeline Harris and Paul Luba of Connecticut College in New London; and “With Time” by Ellen Reed Heuer and Katherine Lipman of Connecticut College.
The day of short films will begin with a red-carpet event at 4 p.m. Screenings start at 5 p.m. A reception will be held at 8 p.m., and an awards ceremony at 9 p.m. Cash prizes will be awarded including a best cinematographer award that includes $7,500 worth of photographic equipment rentals from Panavision. Admission is $15, free for students.
To get people revved up to be in a “short film” frame of mine, Cinestudio on Friday night and Saturday afternoon will show the Oscar-nominated short films from 2015. The live-action narrative short will be shown on Friday, May 6, at 7:30 p.m., and the animated shorts will be shown on Saturday, May 7, at 2:30 p.m. cinestudio.org.
