BOWLING GREEN — Sophia Zygmunt had always been involved with theater.

After her high school theater program in New Jersey hosted a basic film workshop, “I was hooked and didn't look back,” she said.

The Bowling Green State University sophomore will debut a short film titled Duality on Friday evening at the 25th annual BGSU Film and Media Festival. The 8-minute psychological thriller is her second submission to the screening event; last year, she entered her short film Man at Midnight.

“This is kind of me trying to establish myself in the film world, develop my style, and hoping people will start to be able to recognize my little signature style, whether it's through my dialogue or the way I'm shooting things,” Zygmunt said.

Thirty-six film projects, ranging in length from under 2 to 26 minutes, by 29 different creators will be screened beginning at 7 p.m. Friday (music videos, dramas, and comedies) and Saturday (experimental, documentaries, and horror). The festival concludes with an awards ceremony at 7 p.m. Sunday. All programs are in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union.

“Each year, they push themselves a little bit farther to see how we can make it more of a festival,” said Nicolas Auteri, president of BGReel, the student-run organization behind the festival. “So this year, we're doing camera workshops and poster presentations.”

Five students will display film appreciation presentations and visual essays at 1 p.m. Saturday, and Cleveland-based cinematographer and BGSU alum Nicholas Weiss will lead a masterclass in lighting techniques at 1 p.m. Sunday.

Submissions are from both students and members of the wider community. The festival was opened up this year to filmmakers outside of the university, Auteri said, for work they produced within the last year.

The BGSU junior likened the festival to the Academy Awards, with its Best of Show award and 18 other categories. Three industry professionals have been invited as judges for the festival to determine the winners. Prizes range from best direction, sound design, and editing, to best score, makeup, and performance. There are also categories for seven genres of media. In addition to the festival awards, departmental awards will also be given.

While he didn't enter anything to the festival this year, Auteri said he won best supporting actor last year for his work on a collaborative film. He's currently working on a short film with a friend that will be shot in June. After graduating next spring, he hopes to move out to Los Angeles to work in film production.

“I like filmmaking because it's a collaborative art form, and we all get to work together to reach a common goal,” Auteri said. “With film, you're mixing together all the art forms: You're mixing together visuals and music and poems. It's just a love for the art.”

Sophomore Carter Hellwarth will have two solo projects screened: a short drama called It’s Not Alright on Friday and a documentary called The Barn Is Burning on Saturday. He and some friends also pitched into the comedy Tim Kim’s Great Escape 2.

Whether it be through drawing, creative writing, or public speaking, Hellwarth always had a focus on storytelling. He learned the power of words and the power of visual media to share a message with an audience, and decided to pursue a dual major in communication and film production.

“The interconnectedness between what technology is available and how we create media, it's really interesting how that combines,” the student said, reflecting on the evolution of media and the accessibility of tools allowing young creatives to easily pursue projects.

Hellwarth’s short is one of many that he made during winter break, and it’s a “dramatic visual telling of the end of a person's life,” he explained. His documentary tells of the rebuilding process on his family's dairy farm in Celina, Ohio, after the milking parlor burned last spring, and it highlights the American agricultural industry as a whole.

He won best documentary in last year’s Film and Media Festival for 5 Days, 5 Scenes: A Filmmaking Journey. 

In Zygmunt’s Duality, the main character is accused of a crime he can't remember committing. She had been working on her project since September with the help of about 25 people across the entire process, and she expects to take on another crime-based short film next.

In addition to the annual Film and Media Festival, BGReel hosts other events to support rising filmmakers like its 48-hour film competitions, Auteri said.

Zygmunt is on the board of BG on Screen, a group that hosts filmmaking workshops and helps students get their projects off the ground.

Between the on-campus organizations, classes, faculty, and university-provided equipment, she said, “We’re pretty well supported.”

“The faculty are definitely always on hand, very willing to give their advice and time and expertise,” Zygmunt said.

Most of all, Hellwarth emphasized, is the community built within the film program. 

“The film program is just so tight,” he said. “Whether it's out of friendship or out of necessity, working on a project, you really build a community where people help each other create.”

And that support extends into the Film and Media Festival, where Hellwarth said it’s “inspiring” and “refreshing” to see the host of work made by his peers.

“It's going to be a fun weekend,” Auteri said. “It's our time to highlight what the film community here locally has been doing.”

People can expect “a lot of really, really great projects, Zygmunt said. “It's going to be a really great weekend of a lot of wonderful projects made by a lot of talented people.”

First Published April 3, 2025, 11:30 a.m.