Ahead of the 5th annual Greater Philadelphia Student Film Festival (GPSFF), Street sat down with Abhi Modi (Engineering/Wharton ‘11), who gave us the scoop on this entirely student-run venture. Modi and his co-director Isabel Collyns (Wharton ‘12) lead a group of volunteers from around the region in running the organization, which also features panels and guest speakers throughout the academic year. Head down to UArts on Friday to mingle with the student filmmakers on the red carpet and catch the finalists on the big screen.
Why should Penn students care about GPSFF?
GPSFF is a really fun way to spend a Friday evening in Center City. You’re treated to the best student films in Philadelphia, free food and giveaways and the opportunity to mix and mingle with the city’s up-and-coming film talent. All of this year’s films are high-quality productions. At times, you’ll barely realize these films were made by students.
What sets GPSFF apart from other student film festivals?
GPSFF is the largest student film festival in Philadelphia, both by the number of submissions it receives and the audiences it attracts. We’re also really the only student festival that unites the city-wide student film community. There’s a lot of strong filmmaking talent spread around Philadelphia, and GPSFF is the main venue for these students to share their work. GPSFF 2010 marks our 5th year as Philly’s premiere student film festival.
How does one get a film into GPSFF?
Every winter, GPSFF distributes a Call For Submissions to schools around Philadelphia. This year we received more than 100 submissions from 11 different colleges and universities. From that list, we narrowed the pool down to 26 finalists, or about five per category. These go off to another round of judging, this time by a jury of film professionals from the industry and academia. It’s an extremely competitive process, and the 10 films that you’ll be seeing on Friday really are the “best of the best” in Philadelphia.
What goes into organizing GPSFF?
GPSFF is an entirely student-run operation, and we have 15 terrific volunteers representing schools across the Philadelphia region. The team handles everything from public relations and sponsorship to campus outreach and events planning. It’s always a challenge to organize an event for over 500 people, and my favorite part of GPSFF is seeing it all come together.
April 2
7 — 9:30 p.m.
Levitt Auditorium at University of the Arts
401 S. Broad St.
$7 online, $10 at the door
