It’s called A Haunting On Sycamore St. | Photo by Isaac Warnecke | The Wright State Guardian
12 motion pictures students presented their mini-documentaries about topics such as human trafficking, spooky hauntings and more at Dayton-staple movie theater The Neon on Jan. 11.
About the movies
By 7:30 p.m., The Neon was packed with student filmmakers, friends and family, but anyone could buy a $10 ticket to see the 12 films.
Before entering the theater, one could grab concessions and a copy of the program featuring the student filmmakers. The cover included a Last Supper parody picture with the featured students.
Like years past, the works shown were a culmination and final project of the Motion Pictures documentary course most often taken in the students’ junior years.
“Unhappy Endings,” a collaborative work by students Sabian Berdin, Ben Gabriel and Maddie Pfahler, went from light-hearted to a serious investigation into a local massage parlor supposedly offering “happy endings.” The documentary features a real-life raid on the parlor and undercover work by the students.
Junior Nathanael Blair presented two documentaries, “Passing Through Fire” and “It’s in the CommuniTea.”
“Passing Through Fire” follows Blair as he explains the process of artistic wood burning and its use in making portraits of those who have passed on. “It’s in the CommuniTea” shares the story of Nicole Cornett, the business owner of Billie Gold Bubble Tea. It explores the hardships but also the joys of running a bubble tea food truck.
“Beyond the Thrift: Vinnie and Velvet” by Hannah Hall covers the story of a young woman and her family opening a unique thrifting boutique that empowers other small businesses. The boutique, located in Franklin, Ohio, was voted 2023 Franklin Business of the Year.
Hall said she was inspired and amazed by the young woman, whom she has known since high school, that opened up such a successful business.
Barry Kingston presented a fitting documentary with the passing of Ohio Issue 2, “High Times with Sam,” which documents the reality of Sam Compston’s job as a cultivation coordinator of a cannabis cultivation center. The film also showcases common misconceptions and discusses Compston’s passion for the work.
Jude Powell’s documentary shows their father’s passion for woodwind mouthpieces in “Mouthpiece Craftsman.” The documentary follows the story of Brian Powell from apprenticeship in working with mouthpieces to working with famous musicians and honing his craft.
“Soldier and his Song” is the story of Alex Kuhn’s grandfather, Ron McGriff, and his experience as a trumpeter and draftee during the Vietnam War.
“When my teacher was telling us to pick a topic that stood out, my grandpa was the first that stood out to me because I knew he was a veteran and I wanted to learn more about that,” Kuhn said. “He also played the trumpet in Vietnam. I wanted to hear what that was like, if that was his routine, if it was difficult for him to do every day.”
According to Kuhn, the filming, which took place around October, took only an hour. However, scanning the individual photographs present in the short film and editing took much more time. This was the common thread that connected many of the filmmakers.
Sam White echoed this sentiment with his documentary “Parker’s Lenses.” The documentary shows the rich history and science behind camera lenses as narrated by Park Bowling.
“The [documentaries], a lot of them are relatively short, but the amount of work that goes into each is a lot,” White said.
White also contributed to the documentary “Mr. Chicken’s Pilgrimage” by Zach Vogt-Lowell and
Sam Shaffer. The documentary looks at the chronicle of Vogt-Lowell’s, Shaffer’s and White’s journey to the grave of Mr. Chicken and the weird roadside attractions along the way. According to White, the documentaries took many long days to edit.
Isaac Warnecke presented “A Haunting on Sycamore St.,” a riveting tale of the haunting of a home in nearby Ottawa, Ohio in the 1990s. Unexplained occurrences lead to a devastating disaster.
Warnecke plans to submit his film to the Cleveland Film Festival.
Behind the scenes
Warnecke, along with the other student filmmakers, joined Professor Peter Wentworth at the front of the theater after the films for a quick 30-minute Q&A session with audience members.
Audience members asked about inspiration, life after the documentary and more.
This year, there were two “Doc Nights,” with one in December and the most recent one in January. While “Doc Nights” are often around the end of the year or early in the beginning of the year, dates are not set in stone. For more information, check The Neon Dayton website for upcoming dates.
