College freshman Kevin McMullin started out as just another suburban kid from halfway between Philadelphia and New York, spending his summers under the fireworks at Jersey shore.
But after being given a cheap video camera, and a Mac, McMullin found inspiration from his summer experiences for his short film, The Silence Then, which will be screened at the upcoming Philadelphia Film Festival.
McMullin's film won the prize for Best Drama at last Friday's Greater Philadelphia Student Film Festival, winning the movie a slot in the Philadelphia Film Festival, which will show almost 300 movies from 41 countries from April 5 to 18.
"I'll be tugging on people's sleeves to get them to notice me," McMullin said.
The Silence Then is a character study of a mentally disabled teenager who dreams of being a soldier and a hero under the fireworks on the beach but is confronted with the reality that he will instead be a janitor.
The film is one of two produced by Penn students who won at the student film festival and will be shown at the Philadelphia Film Festival.
The other, entitled Duet, is a documentary made by College seniors and 34th Street Magazine editors Stephen Morse and Jeff Levin about two Philadelphia street musicians.
Aside from student-made films, the festival will also include the East Coast premiere of The Ten, a comedy starring Jessica Alba, Paul Rudd and Winona Ryder, and an advance screening of Fracture, starring Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling.
Timothy Corrigan, director of Penn's Cinema Studies department, said his department has worked with the Philadelphia Film Festival in recent years to make the festival more appealing to students by moving more screening locations into West Philadelphia.
This year, of the seven locations at which films will be screened, two will be in the immediate area - at the Bridge: Cinema de Lux on 40th and Walnut streets and the International House on 37th and Chestnut streets.
For Corrigan, the Philadelphia Film Festival serves as a chance for students to expand their horizons past the mainstream blockbuster.
"Even movies we don't understand, we can find beautiful," he said.
Along with the two films made by Penn students, the festival will also include a series of "Cine Cafes," a series of discussions of films led by Penn Cinema Studies professors.
Representatives from the Philadelphia Film Festival did not return requests for comment for this article.
