CAN! started several years ago as an opportunity to showcase completed projects from those students not enrolled in film production classes or the Film BFA program, but has since expanded to include all UCF students.
CAN! serves to “uplift filmmaking in all forms and create a space where any and all Knights can be a filmmaker (film major or not).”
The festival’s guidelines present few artistic limitations: among other restrictions, submissions are required to have been produced after August 2020, be shorter than 10 minutes long, and not exceed an R rating.
In addition to exposure during the February 2022 showcase, filmmakers compete for three awards:
The Jury Award is dedicated by the CAN! programming committee. The 2021 recipient was Falling in Love at Wii Sports Resort (dir. Lauro Gregorio).
The ICU Award recognizes the festival’s most innovative, creative, and unique film. The 2021 recipient was Contract (dir. Bobby Wieder).
The Audience Award is determined by feedback from the festival’s live audience. The 2021 recipient was Pizza Boy (dir. Ben Geller and Corey Marr).
Professor Katie Shults, one of the directors of the event, describes the importance of festivals such as this to UCF’s artistic community.
“CAN! encourages student filmmakers, no matter their major or background, to create short films. Non-film majors who are interested in film but who would otherwise have no other reason to jumpstart a project can find motivation in submitting to CAN! and having the chance for their interests to be validated by showing their films in front of an audience,” she said.
The spring semester showcase will take place on Feb. 4, 2022. According to Shults, “[the] screening of these films will be accessible to everyone, not just UCF students. Anyone who would like to come to watch local student filmmakers or scout for the next big indie director very well can!”
Submissions for CAN! 2023 open October 1, 2022.
For more information on CAN!, visit the festival’s site here.
