Students help drive impact and success of annual Centre Film Festival

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Just listing all that the fifth annual Centre Film Festival entails, with more than 80 films, filmmaker talks, numerous venues, special events and theme nights, sounds like a lot.

Pulling it all together and making the festival happen — which requires months of planning and support, along with a bevy of activity as the festival moves along this week — sounds even more daunting. Festival organizers have a not-so-secret source of energy and support that invariably helps make the event successful, though.

The contributions of Penn State students help drive the festival’s success, from creating the graphics for the event to chronicling and supporting every activity along the way.

“Students are vital to making the Centre Film Festival a success. So many people have contributed to the festival’s growth in our first five years, but the students have been especially important,” said Pearl Gluck, the festival’s artistic director and co-founder, and an associate professor of film production in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications at Penn State. “We have students from every major, and students from freshmen to seniors and even recent graduates.

“It’s rewarding to see their commitment and dedication and it sets our festival apart from others because we have students heavily involved.”

Sierra Brandon survived two rounds of interviews and submitted samples of her work to be part of the festival — a big part.

The senior digital arts and media design student created the poster and featured artwork for the festival. Her related designs appear on tote bags and magnets for the festival. She started her work during the summer and recently saw the poster revealed at the Rowland Theater in Philipsburg, one of the festival’s two main screening venues along with the State Theater in State College.

“It’s a neat feeling to see your work like that,” Brandon said. “Plus, I saw the design on shirts some volunteers were wearing. I’ve been able to do a lot of work at Penn State, and the festival has allowed my work to get more reach than anything I’ve done. That’s cool.”

For Gluck, it’s cool, and a necessity really, to engage student designers, and students overall, in the festival. She believes a new look each year gives the festival vibrancy.

Dozens of other students help with marketing, promotions and operations.

Catharine Aboulhouda, a junior recreation parks and tourism major, got involved with the festival thanks to an email and a recommendation from her roommate. Although she’s not a big movie buff, she loves events and working to make them happen.

She knows any big event requires a lot of people doing a little bit of work and she’s happily helped with behind-the-scenes tasks that range from proofreading letters and emailing filmmakers to working online and putting the films that screen online into the necessary software system. This week she has a variety of hand-on duties.

“I honestly didn’t realize how big it was until I started working with it,” Aboulhouda said. “There’s such a wide variety of films and it’s great that a place like State College and Happy Valley can have an event like this.”

Paige Balliet, a junior advertising/public relations major, serves as an account executive for Happy Valley Communications. That student-driven group works to help the festival grab attention and grow even bigger.

Her specific team’s focus has been social media, and the work complements her career goal of securing a job in the entertainment industry.

“All the people associated with the festival are great and it’s super for me, too,” Balliet said. “It’s valuable real-world experience with local businesses and real-world clients. It’s very rewarding.”

Operations offer the most opportunity for impact for students and recent graduates. Promotion for the festival itself required a trailer for the entire event. Plus, every screening night with a different theme means different red-carpet arrivals and supporting events.

Matt Jacobs, who graduated in May with degrees in film production and photography, edited the overall trailer on the festival website, an effort that took a couple of weeks, some rough edits, working with Gluck and then a final product.

He helped with last year’s festival, providing video coverage of events and he’s helping coordinate and schedule that kind of coverage this week.

“It’s nice to be more involved and to be able to feel like I’m contributing in a larger way,” Jacobs said. “It’s exciting to be part of it now because I think the Centre Film Festival is going to grow much bigger in the coming years.”

A full schedule of screenings and special events for this year’s festival, along with individual and all-session ticket information, may be found on the festival’s website.