After a year of work, graduating students in the Department of Film, Video, Animation & New Genres will screen their senior thesis films on the big screen to crowds of family, friends, faculty and fellow students. The annual event is hosted in collaboration with the Union Cinema.
Learning by Doing
Jesse Malmed (Assistant Professor, Film) is one of five professors who oversees the production of the senior films, which includes everything from mentoring the senior class to working with the Union Cinema to showcase the films.
“The ultimate thing is to create a space of celebration, reflection, and joy so everyone can come together and experience the pretty Herculean accomplishment of these many things being made by this many people,” said Malmed.
Students are given two semesters to produce a thesis film, serving as the culmination of their film school experience. With the wealth of knowledge accumulated from their studies, students work collaboratively to make films personal to themselves.
“There’s something about getting the chance to make something fully on one’s own,” said Malmed. “It’s the scale, ambition, the inevitability of compromise, and the learning through doing.”
The entire project takes months of preparation and communication to bring to fruition.
“It’s a lot of work split between the different senior instructors and the folks we partner with at the Union, who do a great job of making people feel warm and included,” said Malmed.
Making a Senior Film
Although rewarding, making a senior film is a long process with lots of moving parts. Students cover the entire scope of film production from start to finish.
Kat Krindlebaugh, whose narrative film “End of the World” follows a couple during the end of the world, started planning years in advance.
“I had originally written the script for my senior [film] in 2023,” Krindlebaugh said. “It had been written at a time where I had been experiencing a lot of loss and I didn’t know how to get over it, so I wrote a script.”
To produce their films, seniors work collaboratively with an entire community of artists, including students from outside of the department, alumni and faculty.
Kim Reese, whose narrative film follows a teenage girl meeting her future self and coming to terms with who she becomes, found collaboration with faculty to be especially rewarding.
“Because we have working artists as our faculty, we get a lot of real-world experience,” said Reese. “Real artists help you and teach you about the built-in professional practice and community.”
Juan Reyna Marquez speaks highly of the collaborative process while working on his film “More Than Tacos,” a documentary about the Mexican American experience and what it takes to live on the south side of Milwaukee.
“I had almost no documentary experience, to dive into something head-on is frightening for me,” said Reyna Marquez. “The crew of peers I had were all experienced with documentary filmmaking, and I am grateful to have learned a lot from them. I would not have been able to do this without them.”
It takes the right equipment to turn a vision into reality. The department maintains a well-stocked equipment room where students can rent out film equipment to support their hands-on experience. UWM also has its own dark room, a space used for processing 16mm film.
Cecilia Downey’s senior film is an experimental 16mm piece that follows the perception of Alcoholics Anonymous from an outsider perspective.
“It’s been really exciting to be able to use all of the resources available in the film department,” Downey said. “My senior is shot on 16mm film, and I’ve been able to process and cut it all myself. From the start to finish of making my senior film, I’ve literally had my hands on my film.”
Senior Screenings at the Union Cinema run from May 15-17. They are free to attend and open to the public. More information is available on the PSOA Event Calendar.
Story by Payton Murphy ’27 (BFA Film)