As the academic year winds to a close, students begin to reap the fruits of their labors from the previous two semesters. Some students have particularly tangible, triumphant final projects — namely those who debuted their short films Monday night to a crowd of around one hundred attendees at the Ruth Caplin Theater during the Overcranked Student Film Festival.
The Overcranked Film Project is a two-semester-long initiative through the drama department that provides students the opportunity to develop and realize their creative visions through film. Ranging from shorter films of around five minutes to those around 20, and with casts including students, local families and seasoned actors, each project displayed the unique perspectives and viewpoints of the artists behind them.
The first semester of the project focuses on the writing process, while the second semester is dedicated to the production, filming and editing of the students’ creations. Through this process, students dedicate countless hours to meticulously creating and polishing their films in preparation for the festival which takes place at the end of each year.
Much of the appeal for Overcranked for those that attended the festival came from the uniqueness of the initiative itself. First-year College student Cameron Gardner spoke on the significance of programs like Overcranked that blend student-created art and academia.
“I was super interested to see the films,” Gardner said, “because the fact that they're all student-directed and student-produced, I think is really cool and not something that you see often.”
The program is led by Doug Grissom and Paul Wagner, both of whom are associate professors in the drama department. Grissom, a nationally-renowned playwright, provides instruction and guidance on screenwriting throughout the first semester in his course, DRAM 4750, “Writing the Short Film.” And Wagner, an Academy Award and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, leads the semester on film direction with his decades of documentary and narrative filmmaking experience in DRAM 4760, “Directing the Short Film.” The program was founded by Grissom and Wagner to provide students with the resources and know-how to transform their original ideas into on-screen productions.
However, with Grissom’s plans to retire soon and no true successor to the screenwriting component of the program, the 2025 festival was declared the final Overcranked showcase — at least for a while. Grissom hopes that the program will be revived someday but no concrete plans are in place for its continuation in the near future.
Each film was followed by a verbal commendation of the producer, cast and crew and finally the writer-director of each film. This allowed each film to be properly appreciated by those in attendance and for each artist to receive acclaim and support for their projects. It was the appreciation and celebration of shared, collaborative art that made the festival — and, by proxy, the Overcranked program itself — a wholeheartedly welcoming initiative.
The 2025 festival was a great success for both filmmakers and eager attendees. The 10 films premiered at the festival covered a wide variety of topics and tones, in true film festival form. “Reel Me In,” written and directed by third-year College student Maya Berry, began the evening with a whimsical romantic comedy. Playing with genre tropes and creative camera shots in its depiction of a classic will-they-won’t-they relationship, “Reel Me In” was a strong note on which to open the festival.
This was immediately followed by one of the most impressive films of the evening. “Life, Am I Right?” directed by third-year College student Tiernan Caulfield, depicted a raw slice-of-life story with a strong cast of middle-aged and elderly actors. The film follows a son’s reckoning with his aging parents and his selfish, manipulative brother in an unabashed depiction of familial disputes. With sharp writing and some of the cleanest, most technically sound production of the entire festival, “Life, Am I Right?” proved to be an emotionally strong concept executed at an impressively high level.
It was through the diversity of genres and directing styles that the festival achieved its most unique qualities and best showcased the talents of its filmmakers. Aidan Merino, writer-director of the film “Regularly Scheduled Proposal” and third-year Architecture student, spoke to the unique talents showcased through the Overcranked program.
“There’s so much great potential, so much great talent,” Merino said. “But I know that a lot of these guys are not just going to stop with Overcranked. They’re going to keep making films.”
No film embodied this talent for filmmaking more than the final film of the night, “So Help Me,” written and directed by fourth-year Engineering student Aryan Medam. The film follows a pastor grappling with an ethical dilemma in a beautifully-shot, spectacularly acted opus of student filmmaking. Every technical detail — from the lighting to the sound to the shot locations — was on point in the execution of one of the most ambitious, yet triumphant productions of the night.
A truly remarkable aspect of the program is that it unites students of vastly different interests, backgrounds and experience levels into a single creative, collaborative initiative. Fourth-year College student Priscilla Saldana made her acting debut for a University production in the short film “The Good Good Man,” written and directed by third-year College student Xander Tilock. She spoke to the sense of community inherently present in a student-led, collaborative production such as the films produced for Overcranked.
“I just think there’s kind of this aura,” Saldana said. “This feeling of community when you kind of know who you’re filming with. Especially since you already know a lot of them, and you’re kind of comfortable making really good art with them.”
As the credits rolled on “So Help Me” and the applause wound down for the final time, Wagner addressed the crowd and thanked everyone for attending. It was an unceremonious ending to a festival that involved countless hours of work from dozens of students.
If this ends up as the last year of the Overcranked program, it can undoubtedly be regarded as a success by all those involved. Audiences filled the theater with laughter and applause throughout the festival as students, parents and local community members celebrated the art of talented, hard-working filmmakers at the University.
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