Lights dimmed, voices quieted and the brilliant glow of a spotlight struck the hosts of the 2026 Envision Film Festival.
Film and media arts majors Brooke Davidson and Devin Smith welcomed filmmakers and appreciators alike to a night of honoring and experiencing the hard work of Taylor film students over the past year.
This year’s festival screened 11 films, including documentaries, narratives and music videos. The night ended with awards for winners across 14 categories.
Best Picture went to “So Tender a Flame,” created by filmmakers Carolyne Paschal, Elise Masters Thomson, Joel Rodgers, Isaac Maas and Jameson Chesser. The film also won Best Narrative, Best Screenplay and Best Sound Design.
Best Documentary went to “Kids Who Dance,” created by filmmakers Mackenzie Miner, Hannah McLaughlin, Jessica Veith and Jackie Hicks. The documentary focused on Kids Dance Outreach, an Indianapolis organization that hosts dance classes for kids in wheelchairs.
“It was about those kids, and then how they’re kind of empowered and brought together through dance,” Miner, a senior film and media arts major and the director of the film, said.
Other notable winners include “South Shore” for Audience Choice and “The Awful Thing About Love” for Best Narrative Micro Short.
“The Awful Thing About Love” was created by filmmakers Greg Compton, Anna Porter, Wesley Kersey and Silas Aldrich during the Film department’s annual Red Eye Film Frenzy.
During the Red Eye Film Frenzy, teams are given 24 hours to create a film. Most narrative films produced in the Film department require hundreds of hours of work, but for this event the process is compressed into a mere day.
“The Awful Thing About Love” portrayed a man lamenting the mishaps of his love life as he tried to figure out where he went wrong.
While accepting the award, Compton expressed shock and gratitude.
“I don’t think any of us thought we’d be here in Envision, let alone standing up on this stage,” he said. “I would just like to thank the incredible people that worked on this project.”
Envision represented the culmination of hours of labor and creativity.
In addition to the countless hours poured into the creation of the films, students within the Film department worked tirelessly to secure sponsors and plan every detail to ensure the festival ran smoothly. Lucy Jarvis, a junior film and media arts major, served as a festival producer and filmmaker, spending hours working behind the scenes.
Envision highlighted the wide range of work produced by Taylor filmmakers, she said.
“The filmmakers all have so many different visions and passions,” Jarvis said. “You’re not going to see just one kind of film here. You’re going to see a lot of different areas.”
Envision offers an annual opportunity for film students to catch up on one another’s work, Miner said. While she may share classes with some friends, she often does not see what they are working on throughout the year.
It also inspires her in her own filmmaking.
“Being an underclassman going to it, it’s kind of fun to just kind of aspire to what you’re one day going to be able to make, and look up to the people that are years ahead of you,” Miner said. “Watching the past documentaries and being like, ‘I want to do that.’ And now I did do it.”
The festival featured guests Dave Baker and Nick Chamberlain. Baker graduated from Taylor in 2011 and is the managing director at BitterSweet Creative, a full-service creative agency based in Washington, DC. Chamberlain graduated from Taylor in 2015 and has worked on projects ranging from “Avatar: The Way of the Water” to “Grey’s Anatomy.”
During the festival, Baker and Chamberlain led a variety of workshops.
“I think for us internally, the real joy is bringing these guests who come to such workshops all day on Friday,” Kathy Bruner, Art, Film and Media department co-chair and professor of film and media arts, said. “It’s really fun for the faculty, because we’re often bringing back alumni and being able to celebrate what they’ve been able to accomplish since they left here.”
The guests also presented awards for Best Picture and Audience Choice during the ceremony.
Along with the workshops, the festival offered practical experience to aid students professionally in the future, Brynn Smarrella, a senior film and media arts major who has had a film featured in a previous year of Envision, said.
“For filmmakers, festivals are just a part of the deal, especially if you want to do things like documentaries or more fiction and narrative film,” Smarrella said.
Networking, planning and submitting films are invaluable skills for industry professionals, she said. Envision serves as an annual opportunity to hone those skills.
This event is highly anticipated by film majors yearly, and students outside of the department also have the unique opportunity to enjoy the excellence and creativity of their peers and friends.
“It’s not like it’s these big movie stars off in Los Angeles that you have no attachment to,” Jarvis said. “These are your fellow students, and it’s always great to see their different works come together.”
