By Shane Mead | Staff Writer
On Friday evening, Baylor’s Film and Digital Media Department celebrated its best filmmakers through the annual film festival, Black Glasses.
The festival began with an introduction from Senior Lecturer Maverick Moore, who set the stage for the 17 short films from both graduate and undergraduate film students, spanning roughly two hours.
Black Glasses, which started in the Castellaw Communications Center in 1999 and has bounced around from location to location, has found its home in the Hippodrome Theater in the heart of downtown Waco.
“We wanted to go and open it more to the public, and give more awareness to the public,” said film and digital media professor Daniel Beard. “It’s important that when we make films, they’re viewed and that there’s [an] exhibition of those films.”
Audience members of Black Glasses were given the opportunity to vote for their three favorite films, with the film receiving the most votes winning an award.
The film and digital media faculty also voted among themselves on another handful of awards presented after a quick question-and-answer session following the screening.
“It’s super difficult to choose,” said Beard. “And some years we haven’t. Some years, we’ve said we have to pick two. We have a lot of films that are really good and just super hard to say that only one wins.”
During the question-and-answer session, many of the student filmmakers credited the teams they worked with — the people behind the scenes who may not receive the credit they deserve.
Audiences don’t get a glimpse into what goes on behind the scenes, bad or good, which graduate filmmaker Andy Katz said was the inspiration behind one of his films.
“The first thing I thought about doing was to look at the short film production, but from the things you’re not supposed to look at,” Katz said. “From there, I kind of got interested in the idea of how films are a bunch of little lies that are put together to make something that we not only believe, but we are compelled by.”
Just like Katz, every student filmmaker had their unique inspiration for their films, whether it be going against the grain, trying new and different techniques or something meaningful to the individual. The 17 films were diverse, ranging from comedies to horror, and even a mix of both.
The audience at Black Glasses was energetic, giving loud applause whenever a film concluded.
“It was really cool seeing this side of Baylor and what the film students have to offer,” said New York sophomore Grace Hoffman. “I was laughing so hard at the comedies.”
