Each year, the Campus Movie Fest comes to college campuses to give student filmmakers one week to produce their best work in the form of a short-film. While the COVID-19 pandemic has put many events on hold, Campus Movie Fest has adapted to the “new normal” and will be held entirely online this year.

“The festival is now completely remote, with all movie making weeks and premiers happening online.” said Emily Hicks, one of the directors of the festival. “This year, instead of only having 1 in-person Campus Movie Fest, we were able to have 4 virtual festivals: 2 in the spring and 2 in the fall.”

However, with this new distanced format comes new challenges for those putting on the event and those entering it alike. Hicks explained that one of the biggest difficulties with this years events is making sure people know about it.

“We want students to be excited about having a campus tradition continue even though we remain remote and virtual at the time.” Hicks said. “We hope that with the new format of having multiple CMF’s students are able to participate multiple times and continue this beloved campus program.”

For junior Mitchell Davis, one of the biggest difficulties when it comes to filmmaking during a pandemic is the distanced aspect.

“Not being able to meet with a full cast or crew makes the final piece a worse version than it could’ve been,” Davis said. “I hope that this won’t make the films that are submitted lower quality, and it can still be a festival that contains a lot of amazing work, as it usually is.”

Fortunately, students aren’t left in the dark, as they will be provided with all of the equipment needed to create their vision such as laptops with editing software and access to sound effects and music.

“I feel like there’s more opportunity to be as creative as possible, because they’re making it more accessible to give you the tools that you need,” Kaylei Aschwanden, another filmmaker said. “It’s been a very different take this time, but getting these tools from CMF has been really helpful.”

Davis and Aschwanden are no strangers to the challenges that the festival normally brings, as this will be their 4th time entering. One of the films Davis worked on, “Citrus Dawn,” won the award for Best Comedy Nationwide at the Terminus Film Festival in Los Angeles, and Aschwanden’s film “Becoming” received the Jury Award at CMF and went on to compete in the Terminus Film Festival as well.

With multiple years of filmmaking experience and a few awards under their belt, both Davis and Aschwanden are ready to take what they’ve learned from CMF and apply it to their potential careers. “Connections are everything in the film industry,” Davis said. “These types of conversations are great to have with people because you may cross paths with them one day in the future, so all types of connections can help.”

Despite the restrictions of COVID-19, SSU filmmakers are sure to live up to previous festival’s quality. The deadline to register is quickly approaching, and students are encouraged to take advantage of all of the resources CMF is offering.

“Be sure to register in time and utilize all the resources Campus Movie Fest provides you!” Hicks said. “There are different workshops, and special filmmaking categories, like Women in Film, that all filmmakers are able to access on our CMF Sonoma website.”