This showcase will shine the spotlight on films by U of A students

For the first time since 2019, the University of Arizona School of Theatre, Film & Television will screen its student films at downtown’s Fox Tucson Theatre.

The homecoming on Saturday, May 7, at 7 p.m. will feature a dozen student films that cover the gamut of comedy, drama, horror and documentary. Each film runs around 10 minutes.

“I am so impressed with this year’s crop of films. There’s an incredible diversity of subject matter, yet all the films cut right to the emotional core of the story,” UA faculty member Jacob Bricca said in a written release. “Whether they come at it with a comedic, dramatic or absurdist sensibility, they all find a way to bring genuine humanity and pathos to the screen.”

Bricca also commended the theatre program actors for bringing “their ‘A’ game; they were willing to go to some very vulnerable places and achieved moments of genuine grace and subtlety.”

This is the 17th edition of I Dream in Widescreen, the annual showcase of senior thesis films that students created throughout the 2021-22 school year. The shorts explore subjects ranging from social media rivalry to drag queen discrimination to public access television gone hilariously wrong.

The films will compete for juried prizes from a panel of industry pros including Claudette Godfrey, the senior film programmer for Austin’s big music and arts festival SXSW; Paul Pennolino, a UA alum and Peabody Award-winning director of “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver”; and Jeff Yanc, another UA alum and program director at The Loft Cinema, Southern Arizona’s leading independent art house cinema.

Over the past couple showcases, UA student films have achieved nearly 50 official selections in national and international film festivals including Alexandra Cerna‘s 2021 film “Treasures Beneath My Tree,” which has been screened at the Los Angeles, Seattle, Brooklyn and Chicago Children’s film festivals and is part of a six-month exhibition at the Center for Creative Photography. Roxanna Denise Stevens Ibarra‘s film “Tesoro” has screened at more than a dozen film festivals including the Academy Award-qualifying Urbanworld Film Festival. She recently landed a fellowship at Edutopia, the educational foundation established by George Lucas.

In a UA School of Theatre, Film & Television first, Faye Ruiz‘s film “The Lights Are On, No One’s Home” was acquired by Dedza Films and Kino Lorber for national distribution, UA school officials said.

Among this year’s films is Linda Paola Varela’s “I’m Just Trying to Help,” a sci-fi drama with hints of soap opera/telenovela undertones.

“It was important to me to make a film about a subject that a lot of us (but specifically Latine folk) deal with, which is the pressure to hide our true emotions and pretend that everything is OK for the sake of other people’s comfort,” Varela said in a written statement. “… This film was inspired by the question: what would happen if there was a way to be happy all the time?”

Andy Zhao also took on sci-fi in his thriller “Eyes on Me,” the story of an Asian-American nurse whose patient isn’t who he says he is. The patient apparently would like to steal the nurse’s face. (Not quite spoiler alert: It’s inspired by the white British influencer Oli London, who underwent plastic surgery 18 times to look like a member of the Korean boy band BTS.)

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Zhao, who was born in Tucson and grew up in Sierra Vista, said he spent two years writing the film, which he admits was far out of his wheel well.

“I absolutely hate horror movies so this was a really strange area I had to explore,” he said during a phone call last week. “I managed to bear it.”

This is Zhao’s longest film project. As a teen, the 21-year-old made short videos after becoming enamored with filmmaking through the early Lego Stop Motion videos that were popular on YouTube when he was in grade school.

Zhao said he hopes to launch his career as a freelance camera assistant in Tucson with plans to move to Los Angeles later this year.

Tucson native Zoe Lambert took a second stab at documentary filmmaking with “Changing of the Guard,” a film about the rise of the UA women’s basketball team. In 2020, Lambert did a documentary on UA women’s head coach Adia Barnes.

“I’ve been kind of watching UA sports since I was a little kid so it’s so cool to come full circle,” said Lambert, 29, who took a few years off after high school before enrolling in the UA in 2018.

Lambert followed the team through most of the season, but her deadline for her thesis project came before the NCAA tournament. The Wildcats lost in the second round to North Carolina.

“They deserve so much credit for what they’ve done,” Lambert said of the team, which granted her liberal access to players and practices throughout her filming. “It’s such an incredible story.”

Lambert said she would like to continue making sports documentaries that shine a brighter light on women athletes.

“I’m super passionate about women’s sports and telling their stories,” she said.

Tickets are $5 at idiw.tftv.arizona.edu or at the door at the Fox, 17 W. Congress St.