JSU Student Film Festival
The Jacksonville State University Department of Theatre and Film and Longleaf Studio will sponsor our 4th Annual Student Film Festival Screening and Awards on Saturday April 12, 2025 in the Stone Center Theatre as part of the Kaleidoscope Festival of the Arts. The Film Festival is now renamed the Longleaf Student Film Festival but will still focus on the work of regional college and high school filmmakers.
Along with the screening, the festival will offer other activities for participants. Follow us on Social Media for more info as it becomes available!
Films chosen to be screened are eligible for further awards such as Best in Show of each division, Best Directing, Best Editing, and others.
Past Winners
The 2025 festival screening and awards ceremony was held at the Ernest Stone Performing Arts Center on April 12.
Awards
College Division
Best of Show: Sunday Dinna
Silver Medal: The Humming Grows
Best Director: Aughbar, The Humming Grows
Best Cinematography: Fenn David, Sunday Dinna
Outstanding Performance by a Cast: Grieve Different
Best Editing: The Butterfly
Best of Show: December Fifth
Silver Medal: Moral Thesis
Outstanding Performance by a Cast: Moral Thesis
Official Selections
College Division
Grade Point Assassin, Joey Fletcher
Words Have Power, Tristen James
Thunderclap, Esther Shull
Get Gulled Matt, McElrath
The Butterfly, Caleb Woods
Grieve Different, Justus Anderson
Baking and Entering, Lance Harbour
The Humming Grows, Aughbar
Sunday Dinna, Samantha Venturo
High School Division
Wait, Raleigh Batchelor
Unwatched, Cornelius Pitts
In a Better Place, Drew Youngblood
Jelid’s Mansion, Justin Whitfield
Stalked Worthy, E Culverhouse
An Artist’s Pain, Ahnika Hess
Moral Thesis, Drew Youngblood
December Fifth, Sydney Oechsle
The 2024 festival screening and awards ceremony was held at the Ernest Stone Performing Arts Center on April 12.
The screening featured guest speaker Colby Leopard of Catbird Studios
Awards
Best of Show (College Division): Ofrenda, directed by Tyler Garcia
Best of Show (High School Division): Dean's List, directed by Kennedy Reid
Silver Medal (College Division): Soda, directed by Juliana Santamauro
Silver Medal (High School Division): I Loved It, directed by Jackson Miles Wells
Best Animated Short (College Division): Bushitoad, directed by Jovan Mikhail Bailey
Best Performances (College Division): Owen Saalfrank & Violet Park for Turtles and Tortugas
Best Performances (High School Division): Piper Doyle & Jackson Wells for I Loved ItOfficial Selections
College Division
A Joyless Heart, directed by Grady Tester
Fred and Frankie, directed by Kate McNeely &Jenny Shermann
Ofrenda, directed by Tyler Garcia
Bushitoad, directed by Jovan Mikhail Bailey
Soda, directed by Juliana Santamauro
Turtles & Tortugas, directed by Maxwell Park
High School Division
Bus Stop, directed by Allegra Novikov & Drew Youngblood
I’m Not a Psychopath, directed by Ava Grace Roberts & Lauren Turnage
I Loved It, directed by Jackson Miles Wells
Tethered, directed by Donovan White
Cooking, directed by Steven Roman
Dean’s List, directed by Kennedy Reid
The 2023 festival screening and awards ceremony was held at the Ernest Stone Performing Arts Center on April 23.
Prior to the screening, particpants met with professional cinematographer Johnny Simmons.
The screening featured guest speaker Zanah Thirus along with a screening of her film The Love You Want Exists
Official Selections
College Division
No One’s Birthday, directed by Juliana Santamauro
AdDroid, directed by Jake Lewis
Testing...1,2,3., directed by John Jupiter
They Made Me Do It, directed by Caleb Hunter Woods
Liminal, directed by Eli Waddell
High School Division
Dear You, directed by Brian Smith
Chicken Or Egg, directed by Madison Holden
Something’s Outside, directed by Outside Abigail Shockley
The Wild Wild West, directed by Leah Hardy
The Sweepstakes of Love, directed by Jackson Wells