Alaina Leverenz showcases film at William Woods University film festival

2014 Apr 21

William Woods University's film club, the Reel Fanatics, held the second annual film festival designed to showcase the short films created by current WWU production students and alumni.

The films shown during this festival were production projects such as mock advertisements, narrative genre exercises and book-to-film experiments. Each film is about 60-70 minutes, with a Q&A with the filmmakers following the screening.

Student Alaina Leverenz of Centralia, Mo. debuted "19 Minutes" at the event.

"The students have continued to produce excellent work throughout the past year and we are excited to showcase it once again at B&B theaters," Tony Weed, film instructor, said.

Filmmaker Aaron Griffin, a William Woods alumnus who is now the multimedia manager for the professional soccer team, FC Dallas, hosted the event.

The night before the festival, Griffin spoke on campus. During his talk, he showed examples of his work and spoke about how WWU prepared him for the field.

"I'm thrilled to have Aaron return to host the festival and to stage a separate event exploring his current career managing media for major league soccer team, FC Dallas," Greg Smith, associate professor of English and film, said.

"Aaron's experience in the world of professional sports, business and film with major league soccer will provide a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the confluence of these three areas, as well as some inspiration and advice for our current students."