FEB 6, 2025 | NEWS | By Ellie LaCasse
Thanks to what professors in the department say was a generous donor who wanted to help expand the Colorado College Film and Media Studies program, students have had the opportunity to attend the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, since 2015.
The seminar allows all film majors to attend and watch independent films worldwide. The class takes place each year in Block 5 during Sundance, so students can work on their senior thesis and learn about the independent film scene through the festival’s movies.
“It’s a thing that’s unique to CC because of the block plan,” said Jess Duran ‘25, a senior film major. “Like, if you’re taking multiple classes at a time, there’s probably no way that you could go to Park City for a week with everyone in your major and have the experience that we did.”
Students and faculty describe the experience as unique, as few other schools or classes offer the opportunity to send large groups of students to Sundance. Dylan Nelson, a film and media studies professor, has taught the Sundance Senior Seminar for 10 years.
“The CC Sundance class was unique because it allowed us to truly bond with each other while also doing our own thing,” student Oli Kamenarovska ‘25 said via text. “Like, we’d all have our own screenings during the day, but at night in the house, everyone would reconvene and we’d chat about the good, (and not so good) stuff we’d seen.”
Skye Mahaffie ‘15 was a senior during the first Sundance class and worked as a film paraprofessional for the next two years. Now, she is a visiting professor who has watched it develop into a highly anticipated class for film majors.
“I found it really especially helpful to see all the short films, which I think is now a huge part of the way Dylan teaches the class, maybe always has been,” Mahaffie said. “But just that priority on seeing professional short films because that’s what the students are producing.”
The class is fully paid for, allowing students to attend the festival, watch unlimited movies and stay at an Airbnb in Park City, including food. Attendance requirements include four documentaries, four features, four internationals, one fiction shorts program and one documentary shorts program.
Other than that, students had control over what they watched.
“It was so cool to be able to watch so many movies for free, paid for by the school,” Duran said. “Like come on, four movies a day and a hot tub waiting for me at home.”
Duran watched 26 movies at Sundance.
The class also allows students to make professional and personal connections with filmmakers attending or previously involved in the film festival. Furthermore, the festival allows the seniors to find inspiration from independent, smaller-budget films for their thesis.
“It was inspiring seeing the risks that these different filmmakers were taking … that you won’t see in big blockbuster Hollywood movies that are searching for large audiences,” Duran said.