By Jimmy Baracia
After three years of dormancy, a Carnegie Mellon filmmaking club was revived in the fall and now has more than 40 members.
Hannah Wyatt, a second-year studying film and visual media and the president of CMU Filmmakers, said that it all started with the 48-hour film festival in fall 2023. The 48 Hour Film Project provided a total of 60 teams — Carnegie Mellon’s team included 18 students — with a prompt and a few random criteria, including a prop and a character. Then the groups had two days to write, cast, film, and edit the piece.
“It was really crazy,” Wyatt said. “I mean, I didn’t sleep for like three days.”
A team consisting of makeup and hair, actors, writers, and a handful of other different roles came together and functioned, as Wyatt had described it, “like a film set.” This competition ignited CMU Filmmakers.
“It was really fun to see everyone working together and collaborating,” Wyatt told The Tartan. She said she wanted to create a similar community on campus.
“The fact that there wasn’t a film club was a little disappointing, but then it’s like, ‘Wait! We can create our own thing here,’” said CMU Filmmakers co-vice president Aviv Spitz, a first-year in Dietrich.
Wyatt credits the launch of the club to film professor Jeff Hinkelman, who shared Wyatt’s goal of starting a campus filmmaking group. Hinkelmen helped recruit members — mostly first-year students — through his film classes, Wyatt said.
Wyatt and Spitz expressed a shared adoration for film and how important starting this club was to them. Wyatt noted that during high school she worked at a film studio and was drawn into the movie-making scene.
“I really love the atmosphere and camaraderie that [film studios] have,” Wyatt said. “I wanted to emulate that here.”
Spitz shared a different story. His love of filmmaking was originally sparked when he attended a pre-college program during COVID-19. He said it was a fun opportunity he hadn’t been able to experience in high school.
“Coming here and collaborating with so many people through the 48-hour film festival, I realized, okay, we can build something,” Spitz said.
Wyatt and Spitz emphasized that this would not have been possible without finance officer and Dietrich first-year Jack Herbert, social media manager and Dietrich first-year Kat Bell, and co-vice president and business and film and visual media second- year Bella Sierra.
Wyatt said the club is open to everyone and has members from across the university.
“There’s so many people who are not necessarily in film, but are interested in some part of the process,” Spitz said. “We want their help just as much as anyone else’s. Film is the ultimate collaborative effort and that’s the beauty of it.”
This semester, Spitz said CMU Filmmakers hopes to make a five- to 10-minute film. They plan to submit the finished product to festivals.
The club is hosting a Q&A with Carnegie Mellon alumni Ralph Guggenheim, a graphic designer and film producer who co-founded Pixar and produced “Toy Story,” on Friday, Feb. 9 at 5:00 p.m. in Tepper Simmons A. Spitz said he hopes the club will continue workshops with other speakers in the future.
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