TUCSON, Ariz. – The University of Arizona School of Theatre, Film & Television (TFTV) presents the 20th edition of I DREAM IN WIDESCREEN, the annual showcase of senior thesis films that has long been a launchpad for graduating Film & Television students.
Nationally ranked second for public university film schools (behind only UCLA), TFTV will present the showcase Saturday, May 10, at 7pm at the Fox Tucson Theatre.
“I am thankful to have had the chance to work with this group of young filmmakers,” said TFTV Associate Professor Michael Mulcahy. “They have put a lot of energy, creativity – and themselves – into their films, which explore diverse themes like familial bonds, grief, friendship, life under capitalism and the vagaries of love. The films are also, in individual ways, self-portraits of filmmakers expressing who they really are and what they care about. It will be exciting to see and hear the work they and their talented casts and crews have produced.”
The 13 shorts feature a number of recognizable southern Arizona locales: Neylani Castro offers a love letter to the border town of Nogales in Parallel Lines; two sisters battle madness in the Santa Rita Mountains in Allie Cincera’s No One Can Hear You for Miles; Xander Maniece headed out to the desert at King’s Anvil Ranch to film his sci-fi thriller The World We Live In, and the renowned Western movie studio Old Tucson is the setting for Alek Mendez’s detective drama The Grit of It All.
All films will compete for jury prizes. This year’s jurors include the legendary independent producer Christine Vachon whose 100+ credits include Celine Song’s 2023 film Past Lives, which marked Vachon’s first Oscar nomination in the Best Picture category. Also joining the jury are Savannah Abrishamchian, development coordinator at Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions and Jeff Yanc, program director at the Loft Cinema, Tucson’s nationally recognized independent art house cinema.
Films by TFTV filmmakers regularly attract the attention of festival programmers nationwide. Jackson Huffman, Anna Agosto, Myles Gordon, Ryan Ramsey, and Kaila Hines saw their senior thesis films selected for the 2024 San Diego International Children’s Film Festival at Comic Con International, the famed four-day convention which draws around 135,000 attendees annually. The Veil, an experimental film by Cosmo Brusa Zappellini and Allie Cinera, has screened at multiple festivals including Florida’s Chroma Art Film Festival, where it won Best Student Film. Quédate Un Rato (Stay A While), by Alek Mendez and Chloe Raymundo, screened at the Phoenix International Film Festival and will join several TFTV films at the upcoming Nogales International Film Festival, where films will be projected on both sides of the Arizona-Mexico border.
Open to the public, I DREAM IN WIDESCREEN will screen in person at the Fox Tucson Theatre (17 W Congress Street Tucson) on Saturday May 10 at 7:00pm. Tickets are $5 general admission and can be purchased via the I Dream in Widescreen website.
The IDIWS2025 line-up is as follows:
- PARALLEL LINES – Director: Neylani Castro
- PLAY PRETEND – Director: Jordan Fouts
- THE WORLD WE LIVE IN – Director: Xander Maniece
- UNIVERSE ACADEMY – Director: Daniel Cadena
- EVEN NOW – Director: Cosmo Brusa Zappellini
- PLAYING IT GHOUL – Director: Bennett Smith
- BLUSH’N – Director: Madison Hernandez
- NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU FOR MILES – Director: Allie Cincera
- PEOPLE FOR PAWS – Director: Cody Rivera
- THE GRIT OF IT ALL – Director: Alek Mendez
- PIZZA GUY RETURNS – Director: Philip D. Summers
- THE GLASS PLANET – Director: Gaël BAUP
- NOSTALGIATHON ‘99 – Director: Cailan Compierchio
- Awards Ceremony hosted by: Catherine Kim
About I DREAM IN WIDESCREEN
I DREAM IN WIDESCREEN is an annual year-end celebration of The University of Arizona School of Theatre, Film & Television student thesis films. Now in its 20th year, films from the graduating class compete for prizes awarded by a panel of noted jurors from a cross-section of the entertainment industry. Films making their premiere at I DREAM IN WIDESCREEN are regularly selected by festivals around the world including Sundance and the Berlinale. I DREAM IN WIDESCREEN 2025 is sponsored by Film Tucson, Monsoon Production Services, Neil Benton Arts & Entertainment, Hanson FilmTV Endowment, Adobe, The Loft Cinema, Canon, Jane Decker and Gary Dillahunty, Soundsnap, and Blackmagic Design.
Contact
Kerryn Negus
Director, Advancement and External Relations
School of Theatre, Film & Television
knegus@arizona.edu