The third annual IVCCD Student Film Festival was held in the newly renovated Helio Portes Theatre on Saturday at MCC.
T-R PHOTO BY SARA JORDAN-HEINTZ
Some film festival participants, left to right: student filmmakers Hector Flores and Camilla Snavely, professor Jocelyn Frohwein, MaryAnne Nickle (Dean of Arts and Science at MCC) and Nathan Rodemeyer, head coach of MCC’s esports program.
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Marshalltown Community College draws students from all over the world, so it’s no surprise the third annual IVCCD Student Film Festival did the same thing in terms of entries. Those films were screened Saturday night at MCC in the newly renovated Helio Portes Theatre. Attendees got to walk the “red carpet” and enjoy complimentary snacks.
Jocelyn Frohwein, who is a professor of digital media and broadcasting at Iowa Valley Community College District, said this film festival is unique in several ways. First, it is run by students, for students.
Pupils ranging from kindergarten through college sophomore were eligible to submit their work for consideration.
“Most of these films are entered in more than this festival,” she said. “Luckily, we’re able to provide it for free to people that wanted to submit because we think that we are a great place for students to engage with other students to get their creativity shown and to support each other in the best possible environment.”
She said traditionally, most film festivals require a submission fee, which can range from $5 to $150.
The movies entered encompassed shorts, documentaries, PSAs, music videos and more, touching on love, humor, politics, trauma and other topics.
Frohwein pointed out that in prior years, entries were restricted to Iowans.
“So we made the mistake of not saying it was Iowa only or U.S. only on FilmFreeway, so we ended up with over 100 submissions from over 30 countries totaling 21 hours,” she noted.
Judges sorted through the entries, noting good storytelling was a key factor in deciding to include it or not in the festival. The judges were: Frohwein, Bob and Linda Moore, Dylan Does (a member of the IVCCD broadcasting and digital media advisory board.), MaryAnne Nickle (Dean of Arts and Science at MCC), and Matt Schmit, Marshalltown Community College Provost.
Microfilms were as short as 45 seconds, teamed with longer submissions that were closer to two hours in length. Throughout the evening, many of the films were not screened in their entirety to allow for more to be shown within the three-hour timeframe.
Entries came from the U.S., India, Italy, Turkey, Belarus, Egypt, Serbia, Croatia, Vietnam and other nations.
There were four film submissions from Marshalltown, including a movie MCC students Camilla Snavely and Hector Flores (also the hosts of the evening) shot, which spotlighted the United Way Campaign for 2026.
Flores said the festival kicked off with the shorter films to hold people’s interest. He’s graduating in December and moving back home to Mexico. He has taken several broadcasting classes and will further his studies in music production and music business.
“I learned a lot of things. Frohwein is always trying to give us challenges,” he said of the work.
He noted that his favorite aspect of filmmaking is the planning of scenes, sounds and visuals.
“In my case, I like to play a lot with sound, so I’m building almost everything based on sound, how it’s going to sound, the effects I want to share,” Flores said.
During the festival, its winning films were announced:
Division I Grades K-8: from China: “Under the Shell I Hear Softness”
Division II Grades 9-12: tie: from Australia: “How to Make an ‘Authentic’ Malaysian Curry in 7 Easy Steps” by Frank Low; from China: “The 1000 Project” by Emma Jiaying Chen
Division III College: tie: from St. Xavier’s College Goa, India: “Sabor De Goa: The Streets that Feed Us” by Sejal Maurya and Veer Bhan Singh; from Turkey: “Pantomime” by Kutluhan Cagiar
Division I Grades K-8: from Croatia: “The Big Bang” by Rebeka Herceg, Divna Vovk, Petra Pavkonic, David Krcelic, Iskra Zunic, Lota Zunic, Niko Karaula, Juraj Skovilk, and Lovro Milijenovic
Division II Grades 9-12: From the United States: “I’m Fine…EM pleH” by Adarsh Sabat
Division III College: from India: “Whose Hands?” by Medesh Madhavan
Division I Grades K-8: from Italy: “Tyrannosaurus Blues” by Vittorio Caratozzolo & Class 3A
Division II Grades 9-12: from Vietnam: “Prevent” by Dung Tan Nguyen
Division III College: from Italy: “The Woman Who Didn’t Know How to Fly” by Sara Scarcello
Division III: from Egypt: “Constant Companion” by Aysha al-Hurr
Division III: from the United States: “Rainbow Six Siege” by the Marshalltown Community College Team
From Marshalltown Community College: “Break the Silence” by Camilla Snavely
The Helio Portes Theatre was revamped and gutted back down to its black box theater appearance. It had been used for teaching space and offices in the past. The room was re-painted and epoxy flooring was added. There are hints of blue and gold in the room too.
Nickle added that the space would also be used as an esports arena. The hope is to also do some poetry readings there and host guest speakers.
Next year’s festival will be Oct. 16, 2027, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., in Room 307 at MCC. Submissions open September 1 and close October 1.
To learn more about the film festival, Frohwein may be reached at: Jocelyn.Frohwein@iavalley.edu.
