EU Film Club to Host First Annual Film Festival: Screenings, Awards, and More!

In a monumental step in the history of Elmhurst University’s Digital Media department, the campus’ inaugural film festival, hosted by the EU Film Club, will take place on May 10.

The festival will include a screening of 19 projects spanning a wide variety of genres and mediums — from documentaries and short-form films to music videos and stop-motion animation.

After the screening, there will be an awards ceremony to honor the creatives behind these projects. These awards will be given out for directing, cinematography, editing, performance, and screenwriting, to name a few. There will also be an audience award that participants can vote on live at the festival.

The event will conclude with a photo-op and meet-and-greet with some of the creatives behind the films.

EU digital media professor John Klein said the idea of starting a film festival has been bouncing around for a while amongst the department.

“We all saw the need for an event like this to celebrate all the cool films and projects our students have made,” said Klein, “but I have to give major credit to graduating senior Sarah Glees for really spearheading the creation of this year’s festival and putting things in motion via the Film Club.”

Sarah Glees, multimedia editor for The Leader, and president of the EU Film Club, also worked as a director on three of the projects chosen to be screened at the festival this year and said she’s thrilled to see everything finally coming together.

“The festival was something that’s been in the back of my mind since starting at EU last year,” said Glees. “When I became film club president this year, I immediately knew I wanted to find a way to make this festival possible.”

Klein said he and Professor Kristyn Jo Benedyk were more than happy to help structure the event with Glees, as they both have experience with other film festivals at schools like DePaul University.

“I guess you’d call me a faculty supervisor, but I’m more excited by my role as a jury member, judging the film submissions and putting together the program and awards!” Klein emphasized.

Glees said she hopes this is just the first step in a great future in recognizing and honoring the arts at EU.

“The goal is for this to become an annual event that grows in size each year. Ideally, I would love to see the venue move from Illinois Hall to a true theater venue such as York Theatre,” Glees said, hoping to see the event expand going forward.

Klein agreed, saying, “I’ve heard from some students who are already talking about submitting projects for next year’s festival, and as great as this year’s program is, I can’t wait to see it grow each year as more students get involved.”

Glees and Klein both said there are a lot of additional people to thank for the festival coming together.

“There has been so much support for this event,” Glees expressed, “The Office of Marketing and The Office of Admissions have gone above and beyond to help make sure this event is successful. And this event was only able to come together with the help of digital media faculty, specifically John Klein and Kristyn Jo Benedyk.”

Klein acknowledged Glees’ efforts.

“Sarah’s been working with Desiree Chen in marketing, who’s been instrumental in creating the posters and other materials that are a big part of why people are excited about the festival,” emphasized Klein, “And I really have to commend Sarah in particular for all the work she’s done; this festival wouldn’t have happened this year without her.”

Klein said he looks forward to seeing all of the finished projects as a judge for the festival this year, but also as a professor who’s worked with some of these students in his classes.

“As a professor, I always want to see my students make work that’s inspiring and that showcases who they are as artists, and it’s been so rewarding for me to see these finished films as emblems of that philosophy,” Klein said. “I’m so proud of them.”

Those interested in attending this historic film festival can obtain their free tickets online, via the link in the bio of the EU Film Club Instagram page, @eu.filmclub.