Live performers mingled with animated characters and dreamed-up personas at EXPO, Brown Motion Pictures and PREVIEW’s first joint event, which was held in the Martinos Auditorium at the Perry and Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts Tuesday night. The event displayed Brown student-created films of various styles such as animation, experimental, digital and narrative.
Organized by Alif Ibrahim ’16, Ian Garrity ’16 and Pom Bunsermvicha ’16, the event was designed to expand students’ options for showcasing their work in media arts to the Brown community. Nineteen students were selected to present their short clips to the audience.
BMP Managing Directors Sarah Cheung ’16, Maggie Livingstone ’16, a former Herald features editor, and Kiki Barnes ’16, a Herald managing editor, helped spearhead EXPO. There are not many platforms for students to showcase their work in “non-traditional media” and EXPO was a good opportunity for students to do so, Cheung and Livingstone said at the event.
“We had a night rented out in the Granoff Center and decided to do a free screening of students’ works,” Cheung and Livingstone said.
EXPO drew 50 student submissions, all vying for a limited number of slots at the event. Livingstone said she was surprised by the high number of submissions, since this was the event’s first launch.
EXPO’s final selections explored concepts ranging from comical, whimsical scenes to biting political satire.
Errol Danehy ’18 was one of the 19 students whose work was featured in EXPO. His film, which was a final project for the class MCM0710: “Introduction to Filmmaking: Time and Form,” portrayed a spy recalling moments from the Cold War and trying to erase them from his memory.
In contrast, “Launder the Sea,” a playful two-and-a-half-minute animation by Bryan Smith ’15, overturns the mundane task of doing laundry. A boy dons a snorkeling mask, diving into his laundry and swimming among his soiled socks and shirts in a journey of pure imagination.
A two-minute narrative called “CAKE” by Caroline D’arcy Gorman ’18 abruptly switched gears, overlaying a silent middle-aged couple at the dinner table with subtitles satirizing individuals including Republicans and former President George W. Bush. The contrast between the humorously sarcastic text and the stone-faced actors emphasized the parody and highlighted D’arcy Gorman’s eclectic style.
Abrahim said he thought EXPO would be an appropriate space to bring modern culture and media students together to share their work. “We want to have the general Brown community see this kind of work.”
