Film and Media Studies Commons^™

Student Film Fest 2025 Playbill, Providence College Department Of Theatre, Dance, & Film

Playbill and Promotion

Providence College Department of Theatre, Dance & Film

John Bowab Studio Theatre, Smith Center for the Arts

Student Film Fest 2025

Thursday, May 1, 2025, 7PM

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS:

Fr. Ken Gumbert

COMPETING FILMS:

Will Drew ‘25, A Day in the Life: Luke Fonts, 3:49

Nariah Scott ’25, No Limit Just Miles Ft. Kimberly May, 4:25

Teddy Lucier ’25, The Growing Game, 5:53

Janet Newman ’27, Marvelous, 5:00

Rodney Lopez ’25, Lost and Found, 7:24

Gavin Sheridan ’25, Born to Die, 9:52

JURY DELIBERATIONS

The 2024 Film Festival winning film will be screened while jury …

Student Film Fest 2025 Poster, Providence College Department Of Theatre, Dance, & Film

Playbill and Promotion

Providence College Department of Theatre, Dance & Film

John Bowab Studio Theatre, Smith Center for the Arts

Student Film Fest 2025

Thursday, May 1, 2025, 7PM

Toujours Beaucoup: Representations Of Childhood And Education In 20th Century French Literature And Cinema, Delaney Drury

Poster Presentations

This project explores French literature and cinema with significant representations of education for the purpose of examining to what extent educational ideals are upheld or undermined.

The Marginality Of Women In Narratives: Reflections On Iranian Women's Struggles Through Saeed Roustayi's Films, Narges Azami

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Using the concept of intersectionality, this thesis explores how women are marginalized in three post-revolutionary Iranian films (made after 1979), directed by Saeed Roustayi. In these three films, Life and a Day (2016), Just 6.5 (2019), and Leila’s Brothers (2022), the intersectional lens helps investigate how different types of oppression, such as gender and class, often come together to affect women’s lives. In the analysis, four main themes emerge, including emotional labor, symbolic erasure, limited visibility, and intersectional oppression. Roustayi’s films point out how systems like patriarchy, poverty, and tradition hold women back. The study also explains how multiple social …

“More Than What [They] Made Us To Be”: From Passing To Perception In Victorian And Modern Vampire Media, Lauren Sieberg

English (MA) Theses

Throughout Victorian Gothic horror fiction, vampires function as deviant figures, maneuvering within social confines of passing until their status quo-threatening identity is exposed. Of the popular vampires from this period, most gradually fail to maintain status as social insiders—as demonstrated with Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula or Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla, who possess the temporary capacity to pass until their hidden monstrosity is revealed over time. Even if Gothic monsters are confined to a limited space and time far from society, this is still not enough; in accordance with the Victorian culture of morality policing by dominant groups, the vampiric Other …

Gendered Film Criticism And “Intolerable Images”: Representation Of Female Trauma In Brady Corbet’S Vox Lux (2018), Alison Kreul

Film and Media Studies (MA) Theses

This thesis explores Brady Corbet's 2018 film Vox Lux, focusing on its portrayal of female trauma and the subsequent gendered division in its critical reception. The film centers on Celeste, a survivor of a school shooting who rises to pop stardom, depicting an eighteen-year narrative that transforms her personal trauma into a public spectacle and a critique of American culture. Through theoretical frameworks from Judith Lewis Herman, E. Ann Kaplan, Jacques Rancière and Susan Sontag, this thesis examines how the film's fragmented narrative and stylistic shifts represent the long-term psychological aftermath of trauma, manifesting as emotional dysregulation, substance abuse, …

Phenomenologies Of Women's Illness In Ingmar Bergman's 1970s Films, Sophia Rubino

Film and Media Studies (MA) Theses

It is no surprise that the chronically ill Ingmar Bergman featured recurrent motifs of illness throughout his oeuvre. What is more surprising is that this consequential component of these works remain largely unexplored. Cries and Whispers (Viskningar och rop, 1971), Face to Face (Ansikte mot ansikte,1976), and Autumn Sonata (Höstsonaten, 1978), are pivotal examples of this shift, where illness is not merely an individual experience for these women but a complex, embodied phenomenon that profoundly shapes interpersonal relationships, particularly within family structures. This thesis conceives phenomenologies of illness in three 1970s films by Ingmar Bergman – Cries and Whispers, Face …

He Who Rules "Cinema" Rules Everything: Kalimán As Bridge Between 1960s And 1970s Mexican Cinema, Jose Emilio Reyes Rocher

Film and Media Studies (MA) Theses

Kalimán is a Mexican superhero whose adventures, along with his sidekick Solín, take them around the world and across various media platforms: radio, comics, and cinema. The cinematic tales of Kalimán reflect significant changes in Mexican cinema, society, and culture. The two Kalimán films, El Hombre Increíble and El Siniestro Mundo de Humanón, occupy a unique liminal position in Mexican National Cinema, capturing the transformations that took place during the early 1970s until 1976, a time now known as the Prodigious Decade.1 The Kalimán films also draw inspiration from “churro” films, particularly from the Luchadores genre, films often considered excessive …

"A Miniature Replica Of Life": Reality, Critique, And The Burden Of Representation In Oscar Micheaux's Body And Soul, Maria Lagomarsino

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

With the release of his controversial silent film Body and Soul (1925), filmmaker Oscar Micheaux elicited strong reactions from censors, critics, and audience members alike. While some praised the work as a triumph of Black filmmaking, others were horrified by Micheaux’s corrupt preacher storyline and supposedly negative characterizations. The creation of this film occurred during a particularly fraught period of history, which saw some Harlem Renaissance figures argue that only positive depictions deserved a place in the public discourse. With Body and Soul, however, Micheaux refused to be limited by this undue burden of representation. In this thesis, I further …

Her Hideous Progeny: Frankenstein'S Legacy, Adaptability, And Contemporary Prominence To Critical Story Telling, Ryan Penske

English (MA) Theses

This thesis situates the narrative of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley with two contemporary adaptations Get Out (2017) by Jordan Peele and Poor Things (2023) by Yorgos Lanthimos. The original 1818 Frankenstein text is composed of different discourses about race, gender, monstrosity, and what it means to be an abject other. As a text full of critical discourse, it has reached great popular culture legacy and has become adapted numerous times over the past two centuries. This thesis explores and acknowledges instances where the text has been adapted and applied to harmful discourses, such as British Prime Minister George Canning’s use …

A Narrative-Focused Machine Learning Approach To Predicting Feature Film Success, Arisa T. Trombley

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (MS) Theses

For decades, the field of film production has been driven by marketability, and it has relied on gut feelings and subjectivity to produce feature films. The analysis of the relationship between a screenplay’s narrative and a film’s success has been widely overlooked due to the challenges involved in data acquisition and complexity. This study investigates the predictive power of narrative structure on film success and aims to build evidence for hypothesized narrative principles. The results suggest that narrative structural elements exhibit moderate predictive power, with strong support for the alignment of the 2nd act crucial moments and the 2nd act …

Double, Double, Toils And Troubles: Analyzing The “Magical” Relationships Between University Leaders’ Personality Traits And Their Self-Efficacy In Leadership Situations, Fay Ludvine Boudreaux

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This present study investigated the relationship between higher education leaders’ personality traits and their self-efficacy in leadership situations. A total of 151 leaders employed across the nine institutions within the University of Louisiana System completed a survey that prompted them to identify their personal values, traits, and skill sets, as derived from the online Pottermore quiz, the official Harry Potter Hogwarts House sorting instrument. This niche personality metric was chosen to cater to higher education’s evolving landscape, as it welcomes an influx of Millennials into leadership positions. Participants’ responses were eventually recoded to “sort” them into their respective Houses: Gryffindor, …

A “Little” Solution To A Big Problem: A Documentary About The Hattiesburg Pocket Museum, Savannah Humber

Honors Theses

A “Little” Solution to a Big Problem is a documentary film that revolves around the Hattiesburg Pocket Museum and how it positively impacted its community during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Pocket Museum is a small alleyway located in downtown Hattiesburg, Mississippi and is filled with small objects, scenes, and fun activities. The thesis includes interviews with Vicki Taylor, creator of the Pocket Museum, and Lissa Ortego, the first artist to paint in the alleyway. They explain the history behind the museum, the circumstances that led to its creation, and how they kept the museum relevant during and after the COVID-19 …

American Girl(Hood): Gender Performance, Tween Media, And Social Media Content, Mary Carol Dassau

Honors Theses

The American Girl brand of eighteen-inch dolls presents narratives of young girls throughout historical and contemporary settings, as well as manufacturing a line of dolls designed to look “just like you.” Despite the company’s commitment to female empowerment, these narratives still fall into certain tropes of societal expectations for women and are not inclusive of all girls’ experiences. Young American Girl fans and teen collectors on YouTube then take these narratives to create their own original video content, often in stop-motion animated format. These animations typically consist of original stories and characters, which both reinforce the narratives presented by the …

Horror Films And Why We Enjoy The Genre, Jessica Thomason

Theses

This project focuses on the research of horror films and why certain individuals enjoy the genre despite having taboo subjects. The primary focus is to find the answer to the research question “why do some individuals enjoy horror?”. The aim of this research was to identify a connection between why individuals enjoy horror through the content. The research then informed the creative process behind the painting series that accompanies this project.

Predicting Steroid Concern Through Tiktok Use And Self-Esteem, Adam Lorio, Brandon C. Bouchillon, Sisi Hu, Jennifer Mortensen

Journalism Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study examined student perceptions of steroid use through a survey of 154 participants. While self-esteem did not directly predict steroid concerns, specific TikTok engagement patterns revealed complex relationships. Using TikTok to pass time correlated with viewing steroids as a public health issue, whereas surveillance-based use was associated with lower self-esteem. Using the platform to interact was positively related to self-esteem, highlighting how different modes of engagement can shape perceptions about individual and collective health.

“But Where Are Those Good Old-Fashioned Values?”—The Racial Politics Of Animated Satire In Family Guy, Jordanne Greenidge

Master's Theses

Few animated shows have shaped American pop culture quite like Family Guy. Known for its rapid-fire cutaway gags and irreverent humor, the series has remained a television mainstay since its debut in 1999, despite frequent criticism and even two cancellations. Created by Seth MacFarlane and based on his 1995 student film The Life of Larry, Family Guy has built its reputation on pushing the boundaries of taste, especially when it comes to race, gender, and politics. Though often defended as satire, the show’s use of racial humor raises questions about its true impact: Do its portrayals of Black characters challenge …

Dekonstruktion Der Afd: Eine Analyse Der Rechtspopulistischen Deutschen Partei Der„Alternative Für Deutschland”, Elizabeth A. Breckenridge, Elizabeth Breckenridge

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Die Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) ist eine rechtsextreme populistische Partei, die innerhalb eines Jahrzehnts rasch an Macht gewonnen hat, insbesondere in den ostdeutschen Bundesländern, aufgrund ihrer Betonung der Nationalisierung, ihrer populistischen Rhetorik und ihrer Anziehungskraft auf Wähler, die Ängste vor Einwanderung und kulturellem Wandel hegen. Die AfD hat es innerhalb von fünf Jahren geschafft, eine starke Wählerschaft zu mobilisieren, 2017 Sitze im Bundestag zu erringen und gilt nun als wichtigste Oppositionspartei zu den etablierten Parteien. Die AfD ist die erste rechte Partei seit 1945, die aufgrund des Aufstiegs rechtspolitischer Ideologien bedeutende Wahlerfolge erzielen konnte. Aufgrund des reaktionären Pendelschwungs nach dem …

Urinetown: A Lighting Designer’S Process, Caroline Nowak

Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film: Theses, Student Research, and Creative Work

This thesis describes the design and production process of the lighting design for the musical Urinetown, written by Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann, featuring music by Mark Hollmann, produced by The Nebraska Repertory Theatre in collaboration with the University of Nebraska Glenn Korff School of Music, performed in the Howell Theatre from April 25th, 2025, to May 3rd, 2025. Urinetown was directed by Ann Marie Pollard, with musical direction by Suna Gunther. The creative team included scenic designer Sariah Roberts, costume designer Breeanna Pierce, and lighting designer Caroline Nowak. The production team included technical director Ashley Faulkner and stage …

Wide Screen With Critical Essay "Translating A Poetry Of Cinema"., James L. Richie Iv

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation combines the creative task of translating Víctor Cabrera’s poetry collection WIDE SCREEN (2009) from Spanish into English with a critical study that analyzes the volume to highlight the uniqueness of his writing, the importance of translating such a work for an Anglophone audience, and the challenges that occur in translating this complex collection. Moreover, Cabrera’s writing engages with a variety of cultural works in ways that challenge preconceived notions of language, culture, and medium. The poetry in WIDE SCREEN draws inspiration from the films of American filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, while frequently putting these films into dialogue with works …