Courtesy of Abby Asmuth

Turn your eyes toward the big screen, and get ready for the 2025 Yale Student Film Festival — from April 3 to 6, the festival will screen student-produced films from all over the world and host speaker panels with professionals in the entertainment industry.

The 14-person directing board and 19-person programming team worked to bring students and community members together for four full days of events. This year, the festival received over 500 submissions from 47 countries, and 51 films were selected for screening. 11 of the selected films will be recognized at an award ceremony.

“Since a lot of people who attend the festival might not have actually considered film before as something that they might want to do, it makes film at Yale more accessible to everyone here, not just film majors,” said Thomasin Schmults ’26, one of the festival’s co-directors.

The selected films span a wide range of genres — narrative, documentary, experimental and animation. Starting last year, an additional category was specifically created for films made by high school students.

Florence Barillas ’27, the festival’s outreach coordinator, solicited submissions from university film departments and clubs and high schools in the New Haven and Fairfield areas.

Barillas also used FilmFreeway, a website for filmmakers to submit their work to festivals, to connect with international student filmmakers.

“I’m from El Salvador and wanting to pursue film was a bit scary at first, because back home, we don’t have an entertainment industry,” said Barillas. “But when I came to Yale, the community was so incredible and supportive.”

Alongside student films, the festival will feature two spotlight screenings: “Gladiator II” and “Hell of a Summer.” Producers of “Gladiator II,” Doug Wick ’78 and Lucy Fisher, will be present for the screening.

This year’s panels and workshops also encompass numerous student interests — production, business, law, journalism and screenwriting.

Speakers include Matt Thunell ’07, president of Skydance Television; Erin McDonough ’14, senior vice president of global strategy and insights at Paramount Pictures; and Bilge Ebiri, film critic for “New York Magazine” and “Vulture.” 

The Yale Center for Collaborative Arts and Media will also host a filmmaker workshop for students of all levels of experience. The workshop will be led by students whose films are featured in the festival and will showcase filmmaking techniques used in their films.

“Our goal with picking our speakers was focusing on a mix of projects and people that would be exciting, having a practical idea of what people are interested in, and bringing different communities together,” said Abby Asmuth ’26, co-director of the festival and a WKND editor for the News. 

Director of programming Robert Gao ’27 was responsible for choosing the student films that would be screened.

Selected films did not need to have the biggest budget or the most polished final presentation, said Gao. Rather, alongside the programming team, Gao looked for films with “ideas and vision.”

Additionally, Gao wanted to showcase stories that will be “relatable to our audience.” Many of the films revolve around themes of being a college student.

One film Gao highlighted is “Visa” by Chi Tran, which tells the story of an Asian employee who tries to become a victim of a hate crime to obtain a green card. Gao said that the film “shocked everyone” upon their first watch.

“There’s something for everyone, and the audience will have fun at the screenings,” said Gao. 

Free tickets and a list of the festival’s events can be found on the Yale Student Film Festival website.