Premiere Film Festival

 

Premiere is the annual student film festival hosted by DePaul University’s School of Cinematic Arts. Now in its 18th year, the festival showcases the best of student work in cinema and animation with awards presented in 20 categories covering all facets of filmmaking from screenwriting to post production. Jury members include industry insiders, festival programmers, and filmmakers from around the country. Held in the historic Music Box Theatre for many years running, the festival provides an opportunity for student work to be showcased in one of the oldest theaters in the nation.

This year’s Premiere Student Film Festival will be held on May 31, 2024 at the Music Box Theatre. Learn more and see the full program.


2024 Winners

Premiere 2024 Award Winners

 

Provenance

Best Directing by an Undergraduate Student: C.M. Celis; Evan Sellas, C.M. Celis, Spencer Milligan; Best Producing: Louis Paul Alcade, Best Cinematography: Enzo Goodrich, Best Production Design: Hannah Darlene, Arryana Walls

 

Lost Boys Pizza

Best Directing by a Graduate Student: Cassie Llanas

 

Blue Spring

Best Animated Film: Carlos Roqués

 

Perfect Casting

Best Animated Film: Autumn English

 

Chronicle of a Summer Day

Best Documentary, Audience Choice Award, Best Editing: Kira Helm

 

Day With a Dick

Achievement in Short Film Writing, Jury Choice Award: Kimberly Spohn

 

Romeo & Juliet

Undergraduate Faculty Judges' Award: Jackson Coates

 

Right Body

Undergraduate Faculty Judges' Award: Emma Cherradi

Additional Awards

Amanda M. Thames Memorial Scholarship

Kaitlyn Holmes

Best Ensemble Cast

Melrose

Best Experimental Film

Qun Chi - WHAT DO YOU SEE

Best Music Video

Evan Carter - Witchcraft

Best Original Score

Ian Gram - Pastel

Best Sound Design

Hannah Vrbancic - Pastel

MFA Thesis Feature Film Script (Comedy)

Anna Kotecki - Slay

Graduate Faculty Judges Award

Qun Chi - WHAT DO YOU SEE

Media for Social Change

Torin Jade Ives - Call Them Athletes

Voice and Vision Award - Undergrad

Jackson Coates

MFA Thesis One-Hour Pilot Script

Parker Stocksdale - Mechanisms

MFA Thesis Feature Film Script (Drama)

Daniel Friedland - Chasing Sunlight

Storyboarding Award

Virginia Bruck - Scary Night

Voice and Vision Award - Grad

Jewells Santos

MFA Thesis Half-Hour Pilot Script

James Figueroa - NANCYBOYS

Nathan Dills - The Postal Service

Best VFX

Louis Buonaiuto and Ian Odermatt - Another Chance

 

2023 Winners

Premiere 2023 Award Winners

 

One Night On Dover St.

Best Editing, Best Directing by an Undergraduate Student: Aidan Karstadt

 

Assimilation

Best Sound Design: Jonah Fiden & Michelle Leduc, Best Directing by an Undergraduate Student: Andrew Jacobson

 

Penpals

Best Ensemble: Maeve Terranova

 

Cottage Grove

Best Writing, Audience Choice Award: George Ellzey Jr.

 

Perception

Best Animation, Grad Faculty Award: Brandon Frank Lopez

 

Fatfish

Jury's Choice Award: Jewells Santos

 

Midwasteland

Audience Choice Award, Undergrad Faculty Award: Taylor Young & Grace Bales

 

this land is your land

Best Experimental Film: Colin Mason

Additional Winners

Best Storyboard

Sarah Schmidt - Showdown

Best Production Design

AJ Walls & Angeline Krupa - MORE

Best VFX

James Whitehill - ELPIS

Best Producing

Keiph Oliver & Jordan Rivers - Kairos

Best Cinematography

Aris KaiKiu Lu - Celestial

Best Directing by a Graduate Student

Jeffrey Gabriel Silva - The Black Monk

Best Documentary

Ethan Herman - The Front Lines

Best Music Video

Jewells Santos - Girls

MFA Thesis Half-Hour TV Pilot Script

Kimberly Spohn - The Wrong Three

MFA Thesis One-Hour TV Pilot Script

Quentrell Rogers - Prince Dracula

MFA Thesis Feature Film Screenplay

Will Cruitt - 10 out of 12

Monica Keaton - A Woman of Her Own

Vanguard Award

Caleb Stevens

Voice and Vision Award

George Ellzey Jr.

 

2022 Winners

Premiere 2022 Award Winners

 

Big Iron

Best Cinematography by an Undergraduate Student: Caleb Stevens

 

Breaking the Barrier

Best Documentary: Bridget Johnson

 

God Willing

Media for Social Change: Vincent DiFrancesco

 

Hello Depression

Graduate Faculty Judges’ Award: Cassie Llanas

 

Missing the Quiet

Best Sound Design: Hank Fritzmann

 

Phantom Heart

Best Cinematography by a Graduate Student: Jeffrey Gabriel Silva

two gentlemen in suits are having a drink at a bar  

Pimento!

Best Animated Film, Achievement in Short Film Writing, Undergraduate Faculty Judges’ Award, and Fan Favorite (Text to Vote): Caleb Carl Nelson

a close up of a young woman looking intensley  

Ping.Pong.

Best Editing, and the Jury’s Honorable Mention: Michael Merlino

 

Roger J. Carter - Unapologetic

Jury Award: Anthony Ciancio

drawing of a young girl resting on a wall  

Skyroof

Best Music Video, Best Directing by a Graduate Student: Jewells Santos

 

Tooth & Nail

Best Directing by an Undergraduate Student: Max Checkor

 

Split Ends

Best Producing: Jennifer King

 

We Love a Different Way

Best Production Design: Alek Crawford

 

What The F*ck Is Exotic Supposed To Mean

Best Experimental Film: Div Barod

 

XYZ

Best Ensemble Cast

 

2021 Winners

Premiere 2021 Award Winners

 

Blood Feud

Best Producing: Adem Suljic

 

By the Time I Reach Him

Best Documentary, and the Jury's Honorable Mention: Meg Walsh

 

Circus Act

Best Production Design: Brynne Wassel

 

Dinner

Jury Award: Best of the Fest: Linh Tran

 

Field Trip

Best Directing by a Graduate Student: Yu Wei Chang

 

A Girl's Guide to Texting in a Situationship

Best Directing by an Undergraduate Student: Brigid Curran Hackett

 

Hermie

Vanguard Award: Elijah Grey

 

The Island of the Dolls

Graduate Faculty Judges' Award, Achievement in Short Film Writing, and Audience Choice Award: Julio César Padilla

 

Jules

Best Ensemble Cast

 

Paid Research Study - Study 4: Green Valley Tofu Tendercuts

Best Ensemble Cast

 

Pick Your Poison

Best Animated Film, Undergraduate Faculty Judges' Award, the Jury's Honorable Mention: Zoe Pham

 

SWITCHIN'

Best Experimental Film, Best Editing: George Edward Ellzey Jr.

 

What God Wants

Best Cinematography: Mykhailo Bogdanov

Amanda M. Tames Memorial Scholarship

Seika Hanayama

2019 Winners

Premiere 2019 Award Winners

Sick and injured in waiting room  

E.R. A.M.

Best Directing - Graduate, Best Ensemble Cast, Best Short Film Writing – Will Schneider

Animation of two people in nature  

The Investigator

Best Animation: Logan Himango

young family celebrating toddlers birthday  

Our Transition

Best Documentary, Judges’ Choice - Undergraduate, Audience Choice, Jury Award: Conner O’Keefe

Older in house full of plastics  

Plastics

Best Production Design: Willow Rakoncay

young female gazing out window  

Red Thread

Best Experimental: Yijun Pan & Anh Vo

man photographing outside  

Totalité

Best Editing: Justin Jones

cartoon male in kitchen  

Waiting by the Phone

Best Directing - Undergraduate: Olivia Jenson

Additional Winners

Judges’ Choice - Graduate

Brady Findell - Selfie

Best Cinematography

Brandon Hoeg - Breakfast

Best Sound Design

Greg Cormier & Jacob Ocker - Dipsomaniac