On Friday, April 10, the Oswego Film Club and the Women in Entertainment Club hosted the first annual Hewitt Film Festival. 

Students gathered together to create movies that were then shown to the public free of charge. Kara Seibold and Isabel Mulhern were the creators of the event after being inspired by the Women in Entertainment Club. 

“We wanted to create an event where students from all across campus can submit their work for their peers to see,” Seibold said. “Women in Entertainment did a similar film festival back in fall 2024, where the club members created and screened films, so we wanted to create this on a larger scale.”

The students who submitted their films generally submitted genres of comedy or horror. Siebold said that all genres are welcome. 

The festival was not just for fun and games. There were real stakes. Students were given the chance to win awards for their creations. Oswego alumni were the judges and based their choices on several criteria. There were about six different awards that were given out.

“The best overall award was an audience vote, but our other awards for individual roles, [like] best writer, director, cinematography, editor, actor/actress, were chosen by Oswego alumni,” Seibold said. 

The event was run exclusively by Seibold and Mulhern, but they were supported by several businesses, alumni and faculty members, according to Seibold. All of the movie crews and actors were students. 

Seibold hopes that this event inspires more students to create their own films and submit them to be shown.

“We hope that more students will be encouraged to create their own films even while being a student and be encouraged to put their work out there,” Seibold said. “We hope to continue this event annually so all students have this opportunity.”