At Tulane, there are the spring campus events many students can recognize by name. Events that receive a lot of publicity and attention include Crawfest and Book Fest. The Tulane Student Film Festival may not receive as much hype, but I would consider it to be one of the university’s most creatively driven events.
Image taken from the 2025 Tulane Student Film Festival. Courtesy of the Film Festival (TSFF Media Folder).
For a school with a growing film community in a city with a rich film history and culture, the festival’s low visibility is striking. The Tulane Student Film Festival is a legitimate, student-run celebration of filmmaking that mirrors famous festivals such as Sundance, Toronto and Cannes. But far too many students are aware that it happens at all.
A film festival is an event where people gather to watch a curated selection of films and celebrate the filmmakers behind them. The Tulane Student Film Festival (TSFF) started in 2022, and has grown significantly since then. Through the work of Tulane’s “Film Festivals” course, taught by Jolene Pinder and Ellen Sovkoplas, TSFF has become an annual showcase of Tulane’s student filmmakers. The festival’s goal is to give student films a platform where they’re viewed by hundreds of students, professors, community members and industry professionals. This year’s festival will take place on April 15 in the McAlister Auditorium. Submissions are open to all students and can be completed through the festival’s FilmFreeway page.
Tulane student filmmaker Cameron Brown has had many films featured in TSFF and showcased his work twice in the New Orleans Film Festival. Last year, his film I hope I’m somewhere laughing was selected to screen at both TSFF and the New Orleans Film Festival. The film explores the experience of returning to your childhood home and confronting the idea that life may never be as simple and joyful as it was when we were kids. This story evokes a sense of universal nostalgia and moved many viewers at TSFF to tears.
Brown reflected on how moving it was to see the personal and vulnerable films he made to be shared with his peers. He explained that choosing the less traditional college path of filmmaking often brings self-doubt, but the festival helps to calm this uncertainty.
“We are not known as a film school, so to have this big event with food trucks, huge promotions, and hundreds of people makes us feel valued and important, and goes a long way for those of us who are making films,” Brown said.
After the festival, Brown has been approached by student peers he didn’t even know who expressed praise and admiration for his work. Moments like this can be extremely valuable to a student filmmaker and TSFF makes this recognition possible.
“The festival gives me the space to regain that confidence that I’m doing what I’m meant to be doing,” Brown said.
For the filmmakers, the impact of TSFF is personal. This festival is a meaningful event for this community and the recognition it provides helps push them to continue creating films. For the broader student body, however, awareness about the festival may still be lacking.
The TSFF brings a glimpse of Hollywood to Tulane. It immerses students in the world of film and storytelling for a night. If you are interested in film or intrigued by storytelling, this festival could have a moving impact on you in a similar way it does for filmmakers. It’s time TSFF becomes a campus event that students recognize by name.
