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Last month, in front of a filled-to-capacity auditorium at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, eight student filmmakers and one faculty member presented their work in the second installment of the “BC, I Love You” series.
“BC, I Love You” is a collaborative, student-driven project where film studies students write, cast, direct, and shoot their own short films under a shared theme or message. As part of the collaborative, the students also commit to working on at least two other films in the series. All together, some 100 BC students were involved behind and in front of the cameras for this year’s “BC, I Love You.”
“It was a ton of fun,” said Aileen Bianchi ’12, who organized this year’s edition. “It is a huge, collaborative project. We each help each other with our films. It is kind of like the game Jenga: If one person didn’t do their part, the whole thing would have collapsed.”
“BC, I Love You” was started last year by film studies major Sean Meehan ’11, who was inspired by the Cities of Love film series that has produced films comprised of multiple vignettes centered in a particular locale (Paris, New York City, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro). Meehan proposed a series of short movies that take place at Boston College, all connected to the theme of love.
The films range in length from two to 12 minutes and cross genres from film noir to comedy to romance. The films are connected by the phrase “This is college,” which is spoken in each of the films. The film shorts were independent projects, taken on in addition to the regular film studies curriculum.
Script writing for this year’s series started in October and shooting began in November, with editing and additional shooting continuing right up to the premiere on Feb. 11. The students tapped roommates, friends and theatre students to act in the films.
Bianchi’s film, “Love (but not) Actually,” tells a comedic story of a college student’s broken romance and how her roommates rally around her. She described “BC, I Love You” as a “great learning experience. I get stressed, but am not often nervous. But, it is nerve-wracking to show your work in front of 200 people.”
Knowing everyone in the audience was pulling for her made the MFA screening in front of family and friends, said Bianchi, “one of the nicest parts of the whole thing. I’m more confident now showing my work on a larger scale.”
She credited the faculty in the Film Studies Program, particularly John Hoover, Gautam Chopra, and program co-directors Richard Blake, SJ, and John Michalczyk, for spending countless hours advising students outside of class and being “super supportive.”
Another faculty member, Carter Long, is also curator of film at the Museum of Fine Arts, and secured the venue for the “BC, I Love You” screening this year and last year.
“Express Lane,” Chopra’s “BC, I Love You” entry. tells the story of a man who meets up with his former college professor in the grocery store. The additional filmmakers were seniors Brandon Moye, Zach Citarella, Sepanta Mohseni, Korey McIsaac and juniors Joseph Baron, Mike Dillon and Steve Dacey.
The 2010 installment of “BC, I Love You” is available on DVD. The 2011 “BC, I Love You” will be screened on campus this semester at a date to be determined.
For a full synopsis of the film, click here.