Curated by Nicola M. Gentili (Associate Director of Cinema & Media Studies and House Fellow in Harrison College House), the 2021 Penn Student Film Festival was virtual again this year. We wanted to continue our festival despite the current COVID-19 circumstances to offer an opportunity to our student filmmakers to show their cinematic talent.
All films submitted were judged by the members of the PSFF committee divided into two juries. These juries voted a set of six finalists each. The finalist films were then assigned to a jury composed by faculty at Penn Cinema & Media Studies to decide on the 3 winners.
Congratulations to our First Prize winner:
Lua Beckman
2.15.2021: Quarantined (2021, 4:53)
2nd Prize:
Amy Sun
Star (2020, 6:08)
3rd Prize:
Kingsley Song
Isolation (2020, 2:34)
(video is not available for embedding, click title to view)
Other 2021 Finalists
- Doloris (2021, 6:28) | Sofía Anderson
- Repudium (2021, 3:46) | Jean Chapiro
- Demon In Our View (2020, 5:52) | Michele Gross
- From the Greatest Generation: L. Harvey Hewit (2020, 6:44) | Charlie Hewit
- Happy Families Are All Alike (2019, 3:01) | Sophie Huang
- I'm Not There (2021, 8:00) | Indivar Jonnalagadda
- Commencement (2020, 7:00) | Kate Lindenburg
- Walk Man (2020, 8:39) | Eli Ricanati
- Pandemic Puppies (2021, 10:50) | Amanda Simpson
Congratulations to all our finalists and winners!
Virtual Penn Student Film Festival 2021 Submission Guidelines:
• Festival film entry is open to Penn students only.
• Films can be no longer than 10 minutes.
• All genres of films will be accepted to the competition. There will not be separate categories for awards.
• All entries must be submitted via Vimeo or YouTube link to Nicola M. Gentili by the deadline of April 4, 2021. Include: Name and email of the director(s), title of the film, year, runtime, genre, and screening link.
• Each individual or team can submit no more than 1 entry.
• All entries must have been made in 2019–2021.
• We will not disqualify films that contain copyrighted material.
• We will not accept films that have already been submitted to past editions of the Penn Student Film Festival.
All films submitted will be watched by the members of the PSFF committee on Monday, April 5 and Tuesday, April 6, divided into two juries. These juries each will choose a set of four finalists. The finalist films will be sent to a jury composed of Cinema & Media Studies faculty, who watch the films on Wednesday, April 7, and choose the winners.
Penn Student Short Film Prizes
presented by College Houses & Academic Services
First prize: $500
Second prize: $300
Third prize: $200
Additionally, Cinema & Media Studies and the Annenberg Center will hold a virtual Engagement Event on Sunday, April 18 with PSFF 2021 Finalists and Penn Alumni in the industry.