Dean’s Message

Welcome to the 36th Columbia University Film Festival! This festival is the culminating event for our MFA Film students. You will see that these filmmakers have spent their years honing their creative vision as they immerse themselves in the craft of filmmaking. We are incredibly proud of these artists, and have great optimism about how they will fan out into the world after they graduate.

These young artists represent many aspects of filmmaking: they are directors, screenwriters, and creative producers. They have worked collaboratively on their projects, supporting one another as they have grown as independent artists.

When the Festival began in 1987, it consisted of only four shorts followed by a panel discussion. Over time, the Festival has grown to become an expansive Columbia tradition, and one that has helped to launch the careers of many wonderful filmmakers. The event includes several days of screenings, readings, interviews, panels, and events in New York and Los Angeles. This year we will screen 41 films over several days.

The films you will see are enormously varied in their styles, convictions, and preoccupations. They represent a student body that is diverse in every measure, and whose films traverse traditions, genres, and interests. What unites them is the power of their stories and the integrity of their ideas.

I hope you enjoy this festival! Please join me and the whole School of the Arts in congratulating our student filmmakers and thanking the dedicated faculty and staff who have guided them over the years. I could not be more thrilled to contemplate all that these filmmakers will do as they move forward in their careers.

Sarah Cole
Interim Dean of Faculty, School of the Arts
Parr Professor of English and Comparative Literature

Chair’s Message

Some years are better for movies than others. Whether because of larger societal forces or the simple luck of the draw, random years like 1999 and 2013 are memorable cinema milestones, full of exciting debuts and confident work from master filmmakers. Meanwhile, for whatever reason, there are also years with only nine nominees for Best Picture – and sometimes even that list seems padded.

However, it’s always a good year for the Columbia University Film Festival (CUFF). Every May, I know I’ll be utterly transported by some of the most compelling movies I’ll see all year. No filmmaker at CUFF made a film just to collect a paycheck. No film at CUFF has been recut and reshot by financiers. Even my least favorite film at CUFF is usually more interesting than most of what plays in commercial theaters the same year, because every CUFF film has a pulse and a soul and a reason to exist.

As remarkable as the films are to watch, they’re equally remarkable for what it took to make them. Columbia thesis films are shot all over the world; for example, last year’s five Jury Selects were made on five different continents (Africa, Asia, Australia, North America, and South America). I’m constantly amazed by the ingenuity and creativity Columbia film students bring to their capstone projects, whether it’s directing a film from inside a car (because the director tested positive for Covid at the last minute), wrangling a baboon, or persuading an Indian prince to allow a film to be shot in a literal palace. I can’t wait to see what challenges this year’s films brought, and to see how those challenges were surmounted.

Congratulations to all of this year’s CUFF filmmakers –and to every lucky audience member who has the privilege of seeing their work on the big screen!

Jack Lechner
Chair of Film
Columbia University School of the Arts