Hannah Haseloff | Lariat Photographer
By Madi Miller
Reporter
The Waco Hippodrome hosted Baylor Film & Digital Media’s 16th annual Black Glasses Film Festival Monday.
Waco graduate student Michael McHugh was one of the students whose film was selected to be featured in the festival. McHugh said this was his first year to participate in the annual event.
Can you describe Black Glasses to me?
Black Glasses is a festival that the film Department does every year. This is the 16th year they’ve done it. It’s a showcase of films that the Baylor students have been working on throughout the year.
How does it feel having a film in the festival?
It’s really cool to be accepted to be in the festival. There is definitely a competitive nature to it. It was just cool to be honored to be selected to showcase at the Hippodrome on the silver screen in front of everybody.
In a few sentences, what is your film about?
My film, “The Artist’s Way,” was a very personal piece for me and it was about artists and how sometimes artists can be hard on themselves.
I was asked to write a synopsis beforehand, a little text blurb, for the film and the best way to say it was to be kind to yourself.
How long did it take to complete the film?
I filmed it in a few days over one weekend at the beginning of the semester. I edited it twice. I submitted it for a class. I really liked that version but over the semester I was able to do a few finishing touches. It was off and on throughout the whole semester.
What was your reaction when you found out your film was going to be featured in Black Glasses?
This was the second time I have been to Black Glasses so I kind of knew what to expect, but I was just honored to be featured that night and it was just a cool experience. You always want to have people see your work that you do. It was cool to know that all my friends and family was going to be there and that I got to experience it with everyone else.
Besides your own, did you have any favorites in the festival?
Oh absolutely. I really enjoyed Aaron Carter’s “Are We Dead?” That was so funny. I love that kind of stuff.
I thought Clint Keller’s Bible story was a really cool take on that. It was beautiful. Zachary Korpi’s dance film — I had seen that one before and I thought it was so beautiful and his work was amazing. It’s the simplicity of what dance is and then obviously the best picture (Brynn Sankey‘s “Stray”) was a beautiful piece.
What did you want to accomplish when you started making your film?
This is a very personal piece, so I obviously wanted people to see it, but this is just one of those pieces that I made for me and I wanted to do the best I possibly could.
Where do you see your film career in about five years?
The film industry and art, it’s hard to depict that kind of stuff because it’s hard to quantify logical steps to get to where you want to be.
Sometimes it just happens there’s a million different factors. I love directing, I love working with actors and driving the creative vision forward, so I would love to direct features. That’s what I’d love to do.
