Putting Student Work in the Frame

SFTV | Representing a range of genres, locales and styles, Film Outside the Frame, the annual celebration of student filmmaking at Loyola Marymount University, was held for the first time at the university’s Playa Vista Campus.

Films nominated this year span the globe, and as Dean Peggy Rajski of LMU’s School of Film and Television said: “Whether the film’s location was Germany or New Jersey, these filmmakers are fearless in taking on the world.”

That spirit of perseverance was reflected by Quran Squire, whose film “Sunset Prayer” won the Best Picture award. “With all this stuff happening outside, it’s hard to bear, but we start with community,” said Squire. “Thank you to LMU for taking the steps to make sure we have that community.”

LMU SFTV’s annual student film festival took place on Sunday, Nov. 11, in LMU’s new campus at the heart of Silicon Beach, where the film school’s graduate programs are located. The spaces that usually hold classrooms and lounging areas were transformed into screening rooms and used along with the campus’ theater to screen students’ work in each production category, which was another first for this long-running festival.

Festival entry categories included: drama, comedy, horror and animation. And there were common threads through the works: stories of families and family dynamics, finding one, creating one and belonging to one. “Save the Date” is an animated story about same-sex partners starting a family; “Phantomlimbpain” is a narrative film about the loss of a child; and even in the horror genre, “The Last Séance” sees two sisters hold a séance with disturbing results. “We are seeing many more women’s stories and they are global in their reach,” added Rajski. “We’re also seeing more women behind the camera in directing, producing and crew roles.”

Lauren Kulik, who won the FOF award for Best Editing, said, “I’m very honored to receive this award. And I’m grateful to the director, Tony Coyne, for giving me the opportunity to work on the film.”

Students and recent graduates brought their families and friends to the festival, contributing to the atmosphere of celebration.

Here is the complete list of Film Outside the Frame Winners 2018:

  • Quran Squire – Best Picture: “Sunset Prayer”
  • Jensen Vinca – Best Director: “L.A. Liquor”
  • Martin Taube – Best Cinematography: “83rd Street”
  • Laura Kulik – Best Editing: “Burnout”
  • Tancredi Di Paola and Katie Ann Moy – Best Produced Screenplay: “83rd Street”
  • Ramesh Vanan Aravanan – Best Documentary: “Gifted Hands”
  • Jennifer Chan ­– Best Production Design: “The Last Séance”
  • Yi Ming Zhou – Best Sound Design: “L.A. Liquor”
  • Danya Jimenez and Hannah McMechan – Best Comedy Writing: “Wrinkles and Other Unfortunate Defects”
  • Ren Lathbury and Mari Carlson – Best Animation: “Save the Date!”
  • Alexandra Bell – Faculty Award for Promotion of Social Justice: “Love Always, Alex”
  • Olivia Kent – Best Undergraduate Pilot or Teleplay: “Abyss”
  • David Larkin – Best Graduate Screenplay: “Final Fan Girl”
  • Ailish Elzy – Best Graduate Pilot or Teleplay: “Hyphenated”
  • Nathan Weinreich – Best Undergraduate Screenplay: “Duo: An Anxiety Story”
logo-instagram