JSU Student Film Festival

Photo of a film camera operator

film logoThe 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.

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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


High School Division

Best of Show: December Fifth

Silver Medal: Moral Thesis

Best Editing: An Artist’s Pain

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 It

Official 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