film

“Confessions of a Departing Drug Dealer” is a fictional, dramatized account of the rise and fall of a notorious campus drug dealer who rose to fame in 2015 after publishing the details of his exploits in an anonymous Spectator op-ed of the same name. His arrest shortly followed publication and, according to the movie, his extensive operation left the campus community craving illicit substances ever since.

It’s that time of year again. Bright-eyed first-years and exhausted seniors alike participate in the chaos that accompanies the first few weeks of class. There’s no escaping it—unless there is.

Summer break is almost here, and you’re bound to have a bunch of downtime in the next three months. While you might be doing an internship, taking summer courses at Columbia, or just spending time with friends and family, you should also take some time to relax.

The Tribeca Film Festival might be all the rage downtown, but on Saturday night, undergraduate students were celebrating their own silver screen success uptown, at the Columbia Undergraduate Film Productions Film Festival.

Student dancers walk in seemingly erratic paths around Studio 305 in Barnard Hall, some of them holding objects like an empty plastic bottle or a cardboard box. These objects spontaneously drop from the dancer’s hands. The sound of a plastic bottle hitting the ground echoes throughout the studio. Each individual’s disparate path comes to one, but the movement doesn’t stop; they continuously move, but now as one entity. In front of them sits Yvonne Rainer, this year’s Lida A. Orzeck ’68 Distinguished Artist-in-Residence, quietly gazing.

Move over Game of Thrones, a new binge-worthy TV show has hit the air. Brought to life by members of the undergraduate community, Quarter-Corn is about a few partially magical college students.

Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” is not typically thought of as a work that involves cutting-edge technology. However, for Australian artist and film director Lynette Wallworth, the masterpiece represents a daring foray into the use of oil paints—the newest artistic “technology” of da Vinci’s era. Like the vibrant colors introduced by oil paints, Wallworth’s exploration of virtual reality in film offers viewers a more vivid experience.

A tiger and a bear wanted to become human beings. A god promised to make their dream come true if the tiger and the bear went to a cave and survived only on water and garlic. The tiger quit, but the bear persevered and was transformed into the first Korean, going on to create the aboriginal generation of Korean people.

It’s no secret that student film is on the rise with the recent burst of new productions, such as the late-night show CU Tonight and the absurdist comedy “The 1 Train is Delayed.” Joining the ranks of these undergraduate filmmakers is Brenna Webb, GS ’20, who is writing and co-directing her first short film, “Let’s Do Drugs,” with technical and financial support from her friends and fellow students.

When one thinks about film noir, classics like “Double Indemnity” (1944) or “The Big Sleep” (1946) usually come to mind, but the literary sources of inspiration for these movies often do not. And while film scholars have deemed valuable the work of crime fiction writers like Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett, the work of short story writer and novelist Cornell Woolrich has not received the same praise.