PCC screens student films

By Conrad Pursley

Students in Pima Community College’s beginning and advanced digital video and film classes suffer sleepless nights and occasional bloody onscreen deaths, all for one event: the day they can show off their masterpieces at a screening.

On May 14 and 15, they’ll get that chance. The classes will hold a free screening at 7 p.m. each night inside the West Campus Proscenium Theatre.

In addition to film and video shorts from the beginning and advanced classes, the screening will include the premiere of two movies that were directed, funded and produced by the advanced cinematography classes.

The two movies are “Arizona Chainsaw Massacre,” directed by Suavek Kupiec, and “Apprehension,” written by Shannon Mier and directed by Christopher Montgomery.

“Arizona Chainsaw Massacre” is a takeoff on the famous “Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” with gore-galore for exploitation horror fans. “Apprehension” is more of a psychological thriller that follows a woman concerned about someone stalking her kids.

If you think the movies will look like pixilated junk on a 6-year-old’s YouTube channel, think again. Both movies were made using a Red One high-definition digital camera, the same camera used to make some of the movies you have seen in theaters.

And, don’t blow this off as just some event that won’t achieve any future recognition. Two films from last year’s screening, “Todas Almas” by Jesse Powell and “Estaban’s Ride” by Grant Hunker, were accepted into the recent Arizona International Film Festival.

For further information, contact David Wing, cinematography instructor, at 206-6976 or dwing@pima.edu.