Jen Hazel (left) listens to responses from participating team members during the ORFS-Film Challenge Fall 2023 screening. (Rob Thomas)The Oregon Road Film Series held a screening Wednesday, December 6, 2023. It featured films created earlier this semester by student teams, in which participating teams had roughly 50 hours to write, film, edit and publish a short film.

Russell Gronbach shared his experience as a team member and actor for one of the films created and screened “Disassociate”. He said, “What makes it interesting is the experience. The challenge to come up with a story on the spot and create it and post it in that time frame.”

Jen Hazel, professor of English at Owens Community College and an organizer of the film challenge and screening commented, “This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to develop their interpersonal, creative and technical skills, and then have their talent showcased.”

Along with the participating teams, guests that attended the screening included family, friends, and Owens Community College students, faculty, staff and administration. Hazel added, “Watching the student films is a lot of fun!”

Hazel also teased that the Film Challenge will reveal a brand new category for its Spring 2024 return.

The Oregon Road Film Series Film Challenge gives participating teams, 50-hour period in which to create a short (up to 8-minutes) film with a specific theme. The filming for the Spring semester’s FREE challenge will be March 15-17, 2024 and coincides with the last weekend of Owens Community College spring break.

The ORFS-Film Challenge participants will meet for the kick off meeting Friday, March 15 in the Toledo-area campus Library conference room, CH 170, at noon.  If you would like to participate but do not have a team, the ORFS organizers will set you up with an existing team.

The official rules are here.

You may reach out to Jen Hazel at [email protected] or Rob Thomas at [email protected] for more information.