Student Work and Exhibitions

Every spring, Tri-C's official student organization, the Digital Cinema Group presents short films from emerging filmmakers, at the juried exhibition, Private Screening. Thanks to the Nightlight Cinema, students are able to share their work virtually even as the college's beloved theater spaces remain closed due to the pandemic. In works ranging from humorous to deeply moving, these short films, created during the COVID-19 pandemic while students were attending school remotely or in small socially distant groups will serve as a marker of our collective experience during this time in our community. The theme for the 19th annual Tri-C Private Screening is "Connected" because that is what we are determined to remain.

Through our shared love of cinema and steadfast support from institutions such as Tri-C's Gill and Tommy LiPuma Center for Creative Arts and the Independent Art House Cinema we know and love as The Nightlight, we are pleased to present: Tri-C Private Screening: "Connected" 19th Annual Student Exhibition. 

This page also features selected posters from student films that have premiered at Private Screening. In addition to featuring the work of film students, the short films feature actors from the Theatre Arts program along with professional actors, foley and sound design from students of Recording Arts and Technology and original scores from Music and Jazz Studies students.

Some of the films' original scores are a result of an initiative begun by Terri Pontremoli, director of Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland to connect Film and Media Arts professor, Miriam Bennett and Oscar-nominated American jazz trumpeter, composer and music educator, Terence Blanchard to develop collaborative workshops in composing for film. Read Blanchard's opinion piece "Black Protest Is Music. Learning The Melody Isn't Enough" via NPR. The curriculum developed from this two-year residency series is now incorporated into the MARS 2720: Applied Integrated Media: Real World Production and Post (AIM Classes) in the Film and Media Arts program.

Private Screening Posters