An imaginative short about identity and friendship. An experimental documentary exploring feminine body hair. And a story about a mother with dementia—with a devastating twist. These three 5-to-10-minute films were some of the strongest created by this year’s graduating class in FIT’s Film and Media program.
The four-year program has a documentary focus, explains Dahlia Schweitzer, professor and chair, partly because the chief filmmaking professor is noted documentarian Joshua Koury, but “it really blows your mind to realize all the difference creative things students do within that lens,” she says.
The sophistication of the student films is thanks in part to the rich and varied curriculum. From Day One, students learn film history and theory alongside the art of filmmaking, “not only how to make movies but also how to think about movies,” Schweitzer says.
Read more about the films and view their trailers below.
MAPS by Mel Huang
In the deceptively simple MAPS, two friends lying side by side in bed imagine new adventures together. What results is an inventive, dreamlike visual journey with a heartwarming core.
Filmmaker Mel Huang, BS ’26, struggled with location scouting until she realized she could use familiar spaces, including her own bedroom. “I feel like it wouldn’t be a film about friendship without the space that has seen me and my friends grow the most over the last couple years,” she says.
HAIRYGAL by Izzy Holmes
This quirky feminist documentary features interviews with women about their relationship to their body hair—and plenty of artistic close-ups of Izzy Holmes’ own follicles.
“I’m proud of how unabashedly hairy the film is, and the fact that I was willing to film my body in all these vulnerable ways to achieve it,” says Holmes, BS ’26. “I’m normally a pretty reserved person, so this was a big deal for me.”
ANNA by Emily Kucharczyk
In this quiet, sepia-tinted film, a son visits his mother in a memory care facility and listens to her talk about her memories. Director Emily Kucharczyk, BS ’26, was inspired by hearing a tragic real-life story. “I thought, ‘Someone has to make a film about that,’” she says.
She filmed it at Woodland Pond, a senior living community in her hometown of New Paltz, NY, and the residents and staff participated in the production. She will be screening the film at Woodland Pond later this month and is considering submitting it to festivals.