By Cameron McCollum | Reporter
Baylor’s annual Black Glasses Film Festival is preparing to cast the spotlight on 13 student-directed film productions from 7 to 10:30 p.m. on Saturday in the Waco Hippodrome Theater.
Maverick Moore, senior lecturer in film and digital media and Black Glasses film programmer, said this year’s submissions may have created the best lineup of films the festival has seen.
“I really do believe that we just have a high concentration of films that I think are high quality, that are imaginative, unique, moving, funny, scary, thought provoking,” Moore said. “And so, I am really proud of the lineup this year, and I am really excited for people to see the work from Baylor students.”
The Black Glasses Film Festival consists of a two-hour block for film screenings and a 20-minute Q&A with all of the filmmakers, followed by an award presentation.
“It all boils down to really the communal experience of sharing films — the professional experience of having your work screened out of festival,” Moore said. “And for many, it can be a great confidence booster or just being reassured that this is the right career path for them.”
The festival will screen short films from students in both undergraduate programs and graduate programs. The films range from three minutes to 18 minutes and vary in genre.
“It’s a good time at the movies,” Moore said.
The Waco Hippodrome Theater seats 1,000 guests, and festival tickets are $7 for adults and $3 for children, seniors and military.
Austin sophomore Anneliese Bogar is making Black Glasses her film festival debut, with her one shot, one take, still camera short film “Wait’s Over” being the second in the lineup.
“The overall idea of my film is this duo of a musician and a guitar player,” Bogar said. “They need to take the picture for their album cover, and they happen to take it in a waiting room.”
Bogar said her film draws inspirations from Mike Nichols’ “The Graduate,” John Hughes’ “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” Simon and Garfunkel’s discography and the coloring of other ’80s films.
“I am really honestly excited to see how people take it,” Bogar said. “Being able to be on this side of it, at least where I also have film in it, I get to kind of go beyond that level with all the other filmmakers.”
Nashville senior Joe Hauk will have two short films featured at Black Glasses: one inspired by a poker game, “Pocket Aces,” and another inspired by his and his father’s love for Alison Krauss & Union Station’s song, “The Boy Who Wouldn’t Hoe Corn.”
“I hope that from ‘Pocket Aces,’ people can understand the meaning of confidence, trusting in oneself and ignoring that little voice in the back of your mind,” Hauk said. “The other one is supposed to be a film on the consequences of laziness.”
Hauk said he is looking forward to taking part in Black Glasses and being able to appreciate the work his peers put into their films.
“I’m really excited,” Hauk said. “I’m actually in three of them, which will be really fun.”
