The annual Campus MovieFest (CMF) was held Thursday night. This year, the short films made by students covered a wide variety of issues including rape, racism and suicide.

Despite some technological problems, the festival played 16 different films made by students. The big winner of the night, “What I Wore” not only won a Jury Award, but the Silver Tripod for best directing and acting. Other winners of the Jury Award where “Release,” “Dial N for Noodles” and “Over Troubled Waters.” 

CMF is an annual student film festival where students across the country are given film equipment and one week to make a five-minute film. This year, 35 different teams entered at Sonoma State University. The 16 top films were shown at CMF. 

The night was hosted by CMF intern Alissa Lederer and Rachel McCloskey, senior communications major and executive vice president of associated students. The duo held raffles in between the films, handing out prizes and throwing t-shirts into the crowd.

“Students here made films that talked about amazing issues like sexual violence and mental health, but there was also films that were funny,” said J.R. Hardman, senior tour manager for CMF. 

There were some technical problems throughout the night. The film “Sleep to the Stars” played with its dialogue muted initially, but was later played with complete audio at the end of the festival. “Husband and Wife” cut to black a few times before they were able to fix it and play it fully.

“What I Wore” is about a girl explaining what happened when she was raped. It was inspired by the writer and director’s Mary-Madison Baldo’s own experience.  Baldo is a senior English literature and childhood development major.

Baldo won best director and the film’s star, Bria Gabor, won best performance. Gabor was not present to accept her award but Baldo accepted it in her place. 

“I really hope that people realize that anybody can go through it,” said Baldo. She called it a worldwide problem. 

Other winners of the Jury Award were “Release” directed by Patrick Fennell. “Release” is about a man reading letters from his mother. 

“Over Troubled Waters” was directed by Jason Gorelick and made by Students Offering Support. It’s about a man dealing with a difficult college life, shot from the first person point of view. 

The final winner of the Jury Awardwas “Dial N for Noodles.” A humorous tale about roommates who take fighting over noodles a little too seriously. 

According to director Ryan Harvey, freshman communications major, they filmed the entire movie in one Saturday. He called winning an added bonus and said “It felt pretty great.”

All films can be found on the CMF website at campusmoviefest.com.