First Hewitt Film Festival is a Hit

The first-ever Hewitt Hall Film Festival showcased a lineup of student-made films displaying SUNY Oswego student talent on Friday. The event was presented by the Women in Entertainment Club, and the Oswego Film Club was free and open for all to attend. 

Before the Inaugural Hewitt Film Festival began, guest speakers Victoria Diana and Micah Khan spoke to students about their experiences working as producers, directors, and writers from 3-4:30 PM in the Marano Campus Center.

Micah Khan and Victoria Diana are multi-talented filmmakers who have collaborated on several recent projects, including the indie TV pilot BOOKS, starring Spencer Grammer and Ajay Naidu, and the vampire thriller short STAKEOUT, featuring Seth Gilliam and Sonja O’Hara. Khan directed and produced, and Diana co-wrote and produced together. 

Khan has directed over 30 short films, earning recognition from outlets like MovieMaker Magazine and praise from figures such as Ben Stiller and David Benioff. He also won Robert Rodriguez’s People’s Network Showcase Contest and participated in the Mentorship Matters BIPOC Writers Initiative under Scott Reynolds, the producer of Dexter.

Diana is an Upstate New York-based producer, director, writer, and stand-up comedian. She has built a strong portfolio with projects like Second Coming, which premiered at Kevin Smith’s SModcastle Film Festival, and Devour, funded by a CNY Arts grant and amassing over 320,000 YouTube views. She has also earned recognition in competitions such as the Austin Film Festival and in performing stand-up alongside comedians like Stavros Halkias and Matt Richards.

“I helped come up with the idea, and essentially it’s an honor of Hewitt opening, which is a building catered towards… visual arts communication studies [and] film.  I wanted it to be an opportunity for people to collaborate with one another, make films, [and] hopefully make things they want to submit to other festivals,” said the president of the Women’s and Entertainment Club and cofounder of the Film Festival, Isabel Mulhern.

“They all tried something, and they weren’t scared to break the rules… quite a few had the horror aspect to them, but the crowd really liked a comedy film, and that ended up winning by the community vote for best film at the festival,” said attendee Infinity Escobar.

“Seeing everyone’s creations on the big screen made it so much more special, the room was respectful and intently watched all the films, which was nice to see.” 

“It’s clear a majority of them are really passionate about this sort of thing, and it made me want to go to future ones,” said Escobar. 

The film festival ran smoothly with the student films being shown in the large new Hewitt Ballroom. The audience during the films was attentive, and the atmosphere of the whole festival was one of excitement.