More student films to be shown at Cannes Film Festival

"Afro Thunda" and "Man Crush" are two short films from April’s Campus MovieFest that have big futures.

In addition to IU films “Freaks” and “All We’ve Built,” both mentioned in a previous IDS article, the films will be shown at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

“Afro Thunda” was co-produced by telecommunications majors senior Matt Dowley and junior Kate Diamond. Senior Duncan McCabe, a communication and culture major, directed the film. “Afro Thunda” won the Audience Choice Award, Best Cinematography and Best Actress this year.

“I knew that our piece was shot very well,” Diamond said. “We have a really great group of talented people working on it. So, I knew that because of the talent that was put into it, and with the edgy material, we would get noticed. But in no way did I expect it would make it this far.”

Senior Charlie Myers, a communications and culture major, directed the film “Man Crush,” which won Best Actor, Best Story and Best Picture at CMF. Meyers said “Man Crush” puts a unique spin on the story about a guy who gets put in the friend zone and is unable to articulate his feelings.  

“The most important thing for us was to make something about a guy with misplaced feelings,” Myers said. “It’s not necessarily homosexual, but it’s just a guy who has a confusion of feelings for his best friend who just happens to be male.”

Meyers has won Best Comedy at CMF for the past three years, but he said finding out his film had done so well this year was exciting.

“Our policy was script doesn’t really matter,” he said. “It’s more of what works best in the scene. You just cast a couple of awesome guys and see what they can do together.”

Both films were selected by national CMF judges to be screened at Cannes Film Festival in France this year.

“My first reaction was ‘I finally have a solid excuse to go to Cannes,’” Myers said. “I had always wanted to go. It’s the biggest film festival in the world, and now my film is going to be played there.”

Because “Man Crush” won Best Picture, the film is automatically sent to CMF Hollywood, a weekend film festival in Hollywood that screens films from universities across the nation.

Dowley said his “Afro Thunda” team is trying to win the Wild Card Film slot of CMF Hollywood, and he encourages everyone to view his film on either the CMF website or YouTube. To be selected as the Wild Card Film, a film must have the highest number of online views in 30 days.

“It’s kind of a ‘create your own destiny’ approach,” he said.

Diamond said she will be proud of the film no matter the outcome.

“Ultimately, I’m completely honored that something I worked on is traveling outside the United States,” Diamond said. “I was completely blown away. I double checked with everyone to make sure that this was real.”

Diamond said she hopes the “Afro Thunda” team will be able to make it to CMF Hollywood because she believes it would be an excellent networking trip.

“I’m excited to show people that we can produce this great level of work on a student budget,” Diamond said. “I feel like the ultimate long-term goal is to meet new people, to work with new people and to produce quality films that way.”