Showing off student work is what we’re all about.

We’re down to the “3 days away” mark, and we couldn’t be any more excited about this week’s opening festivities.  Between Thursday and Friday , we’re showing 12 films and featuring two sets of performances at the Loft.  Your options really couldn’t get any better.

Then, the weekend arrives, and along with it, two different student showcases on Saturday.  Here’s where my enthusiastic rant begins.

First of all, both student showcases are showing at Old Town’s Temple Building—what’s not to like about seeing a film showcase there? 

The first set of films kicks off at noon and includes the stop-motion magic (how else can you describe a stop-motion film about a family of aristocratic birds!?) of Michigan native Christopher Jarvis in The Birds Upstairs, the dark and clever Zlata Rybka (The Goldfish) from Jacob Mendel (another Michigander), the beautifully quiet animated short Sharfik, and three other exceptional student film finds.

At two o’clock, we’ll start the next student showcase, so don’t wander too far off into Old Town.  If you’re into stories that you’re not going to hear anywhere else, stick around for Pickle Guys, Richie Siegel’s short about one of the last independent pickle shops in America.  Looking for a little fantastical escape?  Between Otto and the Magical Vauum Cleaner and Cankered and Cursed, we’ve got that covered.  Dark humor junkie?  Check out The Visions of Dylan Bradley and Frank the Assassin. 

If you want to see what Michigan State students have been up to, these showcases are the place to be. Mr. Henderson, directed by Joseph Johnston and showing with the first student showcase, was shot and edited by Peter Johnston, a recent graduate of the Digital Media Arts and Technology Master’s program in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences.  In the second showcase, both The Peanut Shop (Lansing’s own!) and Parked are the products of Curtis Matzke, an MSU graduate student who made the films while he was pursuing his B.A. degree in the Media Arts and Technology program.  The Laventure brothers, creators of Frank the Assassin (a film also showing during the second showcase), are connected to MSU too! Cameron Laventure, the film’s writer and director, is a Junior at MSU and is majoring in English with a concentration in Film Studies and a specialization in Fiction Film Production. Brandon Laventure, Frank the Assassin’s producer, graduated from MSU’s Broad College of Business last May with a degree in Supply Chain Management.

So, to make a long story a blog post, that’s the student showcase scoop.  Dan (my fellow programming coordinator and all around man of good taste) and I can’t stop telling everyone how the student films are some of the top films in the festival line-up, but you’ll finally get a chance to see the awesomeness for yourself this weekend.

Get your tickets for a Saturday full of student greatness ——-> here<——-
For a full schedule visit www.capitalcityfilmfest.com

-Katie Wittenauer, CCFF Co-Programming Director