About

The Yale Student Film Festival (YSFF) is an emerging student-run short film festival, providing the opportunity for university-level filmmakers, both foreign and domestic, to exhibit their work.

Now in its fourth year, YSFF takes place annually at Yale University in New Haven, CT. The three-day-long event will include feature film screenings, workshops, and panels led by Yale alumni in the entertainment industry, culminating in a competitive student block and awards ceremony.

Founded in 2015, the festival began as a collaboration between the Yale Film Alliance, Yale Film Study Center, Yale Film Studies Program, Films at the Whitney, and the Yale College Dean’s Office to highlight the small, but growing community of filmmakers on Yale’s Campus, who create work outside of a traditional film school environment.

Continuing this theme, this year’s festival will celebrate emerging student work from those taking the first steps towards a professional career, and aims to provide a platform to encourage conversation and camaraderie across schools and experiences. In the liberal arts tradition, we aim to bridge film with relevant social and intellectual issues.

The festival features three separate student competitions: the narrative film competition, the documentary film competition, and the experimental film competition. It will also feature a works-in-progress category, designed to showcase work in various post-production phases, and will be an opportunity to receive feedback from peers and professionals. The Yale Filmmakers Block and the Yale Thesis Films Block bookend the student screening and showcase work by our very own students.

a person giving speech a person walking in trees students laughing
student looking out of window person eye with paint brush students talking and laughing
students setting up camera on tripod student walking in hallway teacher teaching student
students taking notes student picture in front of Yale Student Film Festival poster

 

Inquiries?

yalestudentfilmfest@gmail.com

Contact

 

President, Yale Film Alliance
TJ Noel-Sullivan
tj.noel-sullivan@yale.edu
Image of Festival Director Joshua van Biema

Festival Co-Director
Joshua van Biema                                                                                                               Josh is a sophomore prospective Film & Media Studies major from Brooklyn, New York. He loves exploring cinemas from all countries and eras, and he is excited to be coordinating this year’s Yale Student Film Festival! His favorite movie is probably Kurosawa Kiyoshi’s Cure. Outside of film, he is passionate about Afro-Cuban jazz, poetry, and good apple juice. His goal for this year: to read everything Anne Carson has ever written.                                                                                              joshua.vanbiema@yale.edu
Image of Associate Director Lily Weisberg

Festival Co-Director
Lily Weisberg                                                                                                                       Lily is a Humanities Major from New York City. She loves watching and making movies, running, and reading big books. She has seen Call Me By Your Name an embarassing number of times. (Please don’t ask Josh about this) She is especially fond of David Hurtado.                                          lily.weisberg@yale.edu

Associate Director
Evin Henriquez-Groves
evin.henriquez-groves@yale.edu
Image of Director of Programming Filip Sestan

Director of Programming
Filip Sestan                                                                                                                         Filip is a sophmore prospective literature major from Madison, CT. He loves diving into epic films (like Bela Tarr’s Satantango) and generally exploring international literature and film in his free time, running the Yale Film Society. He thinks Andrei Tarkovsky and his films are the greatest things to grace this planet. Fil’s favorite activities involve writing letters, watching soccer, and eating anything.                  filip.sestan@yale.edu

Image of Outreach and Publicity David Hurtado

Graphic Designer
David Hurtado                                                                                                         David Hurtado (Dave) is a Studio Art and Architecture double major from Salt Lake City, Utah. He always has at least two dining hall fruits on him and looks GOOD in a black cardigan. David enjoys a firm couch, a gin and tonic, and has high aspirations of making a full sized metal chair this year. As a self-proclaimed man of leisure, David is a strong believer in the importance of patio space. He is also a part of Control Group, Yale’s experimental theater group.                             david.hurtado@yale.edu
  Eve​nt Coordinator
Ryan Benson
ryan.benson@yale.edu

Event Coordinator
Amanda Thomas.                                                                                                                 Amanda is a Sophomore English major from Silver Spring, Maryland. She loves events. One of her favorite events of all time was the 1969 moon landing because it generated a lot of buzz.                                              amanda.thomas@yale.edu
 

Treasurer
Charlie Mayhew
charlie.mayhew@yale.edu

Publicity Coordinator
Elene DeBre
elene.debre@yale.edu

Publicity Coordinator
Tiffany Ng
t.ng@yale.edu

Webmaster
Sofia Turner.                                                                                                                         Sofia is a first-year in Silliman College from Phoenix, Arizona, hoping to major in film studies or english. Besides website managing for YSFF, you can find her involved in SSDP and the Refugee Project. She has an intense love for cinammon roles and every film Don Hertzfeldt has made.                                                                                                     sofia.turner@yale.edu