Penn students don't need to make it to Hollywood to see their movies hit the big screen.
Ware and Gregory college houses are currently hosting their third annual Penn Film Festival, which gives applicants the chance to see their movie at the Bridge: Cinema de Luxe.
Students are currently submitting short original films to Fisher-Hassenfeld House Coordinator Ryan Crocetto. The movies can be of any genre as long as they are shorter than 20 minutes -- past entries have ranged from reality TV spoofs to drama.
Currently only one student has submitted a film, but students can enter the contest until March 15. Last year, 15 movies were shown.
Last year's winner -- produced by Engineering junior Michael Highland -- went on to be signed by a professional producer in Los Angeles who asked Highland to extend his original version.
The film, titled "As Real as Your Life," was a graphics-heavy film focusing on how his video game addiction became a surrogate existence for him.
Highland also entered his film in the Ivy League Film Festival.
While Highland is currently working on a number of productions, he does not plan to compete in this year's film festival.
For those who know nothing about filmmaking, Ware Dean Nathaniel Smith says that this is an opportunity to learn.
Smith is holding workshops for the next two weeks to help students develop basic filming skills.
Students can borrow digital video cameras from Ware College House and use the house computer lab to edit films.
Last Wednesday, only College freshman Leonore Miller showed up to the session. She doesn't yet know what the subject of her film will be but she knows she wants to see her own work played on a screen at the Bridge.
"I've never made a movie before but I've always been interested," Miller said. "I'm kind of nervous, actually."
But Smith thinks more students will show an interest.
"The whole point of the film festival is to allow this access to students to something that you really don't get that often -- the chance to produce a film and see it on the big screen," Smith said.
Last year, he added, the theater was rented for two hours and students packed the room to watch the films.
College freshman Andrew Julien, the one student who has already entered the contest this year, said he sees it as an opportunity to prepare for professional filmmaking.
Julien -- whose short film centers on class divisions in American society -- said he hopes to also learn more about Penn in the process.
"I [submitted] because I want to get involved in the community here and I'm really interested in seeing other students work," Julien said. "This is something I want to pursue as a career."
