A woman dressed in a white gown falls into a panic after realizing she has no voice to speak with. She is the star in a film conveying a metaphor: women must search for their voice in a patriarchal world. The film, titled “Soundmaker,” was an assignment for Archer’s English senior seminar “Back to the Future.” Seniors Piper Rutman, Emma Frank and Isabelle Verdery wrote and produced it themselves, and Rutman wrote its original score.

“Soundmaker” was one of 12 films illustrating stories of love, loss and life showcased at Archer’s 12th annual Film Festival Wednesday, April 19. Faculty, students, parents and friends gathered at the Writer’s Guild Theatre in Beverly Hills from 6:15-8:30 p.m. to celebrate female filmmakers and underrepresented film perspectives. The event was sponsored by the Kennedy Marshall Company, the Katie McGrath and JJ Abrams Family Foundation, Mark Gordon Pictures and Paramount.

Guests entered on a pink carpet and experienced a collaboration with Archer’s visual artists: a pop-up gallery featuring photography, paintings and collages. Film teacher Andrew Ruiz said the gallery not only welcomed guests but also provided other Archer art departments an opportunity to showcase their work.

“This year, we branched out with the art installation in the lobby,” Ruiz said. “The idea of bringing disparate art forms together into an evening celebrating student-created art is really important, be it the Film Festival, the Night of Dance or the school play. All of these things are part of the healthy general atmosphere of creativity at Archer.”

Senior Grace DeLossa and sophomore Grace Whitney moderated a Q&A with this year’s keynote speakers, President of One Race Films Samantha Vincent and cofounder of the Good Pals production company Cara Shine. Vincent spoke about her experience being a woman of color in a successful company and being labeled as a spokesperson for diverse voices.

Both women described the film industry as a “boy’s club” but said education is an important tool to combat the imbalance. Shine admitted there’s a lot of work to be done for the future, but she hopes the film industry will eventually balance to reflect the 50/50 ratio of men and women in the world. Festival board member Lacey Thompson (’24) is a film student herself, and she said it was encouraging to hear successful female perspectives of a male-dominated industry.

“I didn’t know much about what a film producer really does, so it was great to hear their perspectives on what the job entails,” Thompson said. “They were very transparent about how the industry relies on knowing the right people, which is unfortunate, but they really spoke to everyone in the audience.”

The student-run festival board has been meeting during FLX block since November 2022 to plan the event.  Every year, they advertise Archer’s festival on Filmfreeway, the same channel as established film festivals such as Raindance, Melbourne International and Tokyo International. The board received 344 student-produced submissions from over 50 countries around the world, so, for months, they watched and narrowed them down to the 20 best films. A faculty committee then reviewed the list to decide the final 12.

“Watching the films inspired me because these are all students around our age. If they can make these incredible films, I can also do something just like this,” Thompson said. “Even if you’re not in film, seeing other students use creativity to achieve something as great as creating a full short film inspires me to get up and go and finish the film I’m working on right now.”

Ruiz said the festival has an incredible impact, ranging from the skills learned while being on the board to uplifting underrepresented voices. He said the planning process inspired different students to emerge as leaders; taking care of whatever tasks were needed, putting ideas into action and collaborating across committees.

“This is one of the very few film festivals I’ve worked with that is so student-driven,” Ruiz said. “There aren’t a lot of opportunities out there for students to have their work seen and be the machinery behind the screenings. Obviously, we live in a world hub of filmmaking in Los Angeles, and there are a lot of family connections in the industry, so there’s a big passion for filmmaking. It’s really fun to be part of that conversation with the students.”