On April 20, the second annual Orange Film Fest will take place at The Frida Cinema. Guests will be able to watch 12 short films created by students, attend an awards ceremony and listen to a special guest Q&A.

As a strategic and corporate communication major, senior Derrick Davidian wasn’t aware Chapman even had a film school when he first arrived in Orange from Encino. He thought people simply threw together a film and became the next Steven Spielberg. 

It wasn’t long before Davidian learned about the entire scope of Hollywood and found a community within the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. In fact, he even began envisioning a new future for himself within the industry. As a newcomer, he sought a way to bridge the gap between students inside and outside of the film school and celebrate the work of film students beyond the walls of Marion Knott Studios. His solution? A film festival. 

“I think what excites me about a film festival is that it's not only filmmakers who go to it,” Davidian said. “There are people who simply just want to watch movies and enjoy that. There are people who like the business aspect of it — the sponsorships, the partnership, the activations. Now, talking about it, a festival kind of seems like a film itself. There’s so many different components.”

Derrick Davidian, a senior strategic and corporate communication major, created the Orange Film Festival with seven collaborators with the hope of providing an opportunity for aspiring filmmakers to celebrate their work and network with those working professionally. Photos courtesy of Silvia Miranda and Tivoli Silas

On April 29, 2023, Davidian and a team of seven collaborators hosted the inaugural Orange Film Fest, showcasing 10 short films created by Chapman students accompanied by a Q&A with special guests “Weird Al” Yankovic and director Eric Appel. The team will return for the second annual Orange Film Fest on April 20, 2024 at The Frida Cinema in Santa Ana with an expanded slate of films and a new special guest to be announced. 

Senior creative producing major Jordan Sharkey serves as the director of internal affairs, acting as a liaison between the Orange Film Fest and Dodge. Sharkey was unable to attend the majority of the first Orange Film Fest due to prior obligations, but she recalls arriving during the final moments and watching her team be showered with applause on stage. 

“It was just really cool to see what started so small turn into that. It was like, ‘Okay, this works. We’re going to keep it up,’” Sharkey said. “There isn't a film festival like Orange Film Fest. Our first year was only open to Dodge students, and I thought it was such a special opportunity to bond with our community and celebrate our films. We have our screenings, but I also think the celebration for films outside of Chapman didn’t really exist.”

This year, Orange Film Fest expanded to include short film submissions from Loyola Marymount University, C.S.U. Fullerton, C.S.U. Long Beach, U.S.C. and the New York Film Academy. They received 40 entries and have selected 12 to be featured in the festival. 

Orange Film Fest programmer and junior creative producing major Ben Rosenthal and his team made their selections based on a scoring rubric. They use a one-through-five scale to analyze facets of each film, including quality of characters, technical merit, story, marketability, impact and more. At the festival, the films will be judged by a voting body of several industry professionals and have the chance to win awards, some of which entail a cash prize from a pool of 3,000 dollars.

One of the most important additions to this year's festival is the networking event prior to the screenings, giving the filmmakers a chance to converse with industry professionals and their fellow creatives. Rosenthal spoke about the importance of adding this element to the festival. 

“Community and network is what (Davidian) is trying to promote that I fully agree with because at the film festivals I’ve been to, people are really there to meet other filmmakers,” Rosenthal said. “My favorite thing last year was when we were in the lobby of The Frida (Cinema) and everyone was mingling. It was really cool to watch two people you know but didn’t know each other meet each other. Establishing that community was super cool.”

Sharkey emphasized the importance of celebration at Orange Film Fest, as opposed to other festivals where filmmakers seek to acquire distribution for their projects. 

“There’s a lot of festivals that are markets as much as they are film festivals so people are going there to sell their films,” Sharkey said. “Orange Film Fest is really just about celebrating, and that’s our top priority in our discussions and our meetings. I think if it can be a celebration with that added emphasis on networking, that’s all the success I could ever dream for. I want people to feel like they spent a day doing what they love but also getting one or three more contacts in their phone at the end of the day.”

Junior film production major Jake diTargiani, who serves as the creative director of the Orange Film Fest, spoke about the team's goals for the future. They hope to continue expanding the scale of the festival with plans to implement an internship program.  

“As a top film school, I feel like it’s great to have a platform where we can show our films in a competitive space and see other colleges and their films,” diTargiani said. “Our whole thing is connecting the next generation of filmmakers, expanding our base and connecting everyone from every college is our goal for the future, and just going up from there.”

Davidian admitted to The Panther that he’s more nervous for the second year of Orange Film Fest than the first, claiming, “In your first year, no one expects anything. I think every year after your first year, you have to get back to that point or do better.” Despite the pressure, he’s immensely appreciative of the collaborators he’s assembled around him. 

“I’m so grateful to be surrounded by such an amazing team where, if I have a question, someone on the team has an answer,” Davidian said. “With something like (Orange Film Fest), it’s important to have the buy-in of all the people… as soon as you have the buy-in, that’s how you work as a well-oiled machine.”

Davidian continued: “I view Orange Film Fest as Cannes Film Festival, Tribeca Festival or South By Southwest because if you view it as just another student film festival, you won’t be able to grow. It’s okay if you don’t get to that point, but if you aim for the moon, you’ll land in the stars.”

Orange Film Fest will take place at The Frida Cinema on Saturday, April 20 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tickets are available for purchase on their website, which includes access to the award ceremony, the special guest Q&A and the screening of all the films. For more information, check out the Orange Film Fest website or their Instagram page.