John Koenig

An authentic Costa Rican street tune set the beat for the opening half of “Painting Palmira,” the triple-award-winning short film at the 7th Annual Student Independent Film Festival.

Senior director Aaron Schasse said the documentary-style film came from his experiences while studying abroad in Costa Rica last spring, specifically from a school-painting project the students did. He filmed the Costa Rican children playing among the volunteers, who spruced up the Escuela de Palmira on their behalf, as well as the workers themselves.

“(‘Painting Palmira’) was a neat blend of documentary and social commentary,” said junior Jeff Kastenson, a ST.I.F.FE spectator and aspiring filmmaker, adding that he also appreciated the use of rhythm and timing in the film.

About 30 people gathered Sunday afternoon in Davies Theatre for the ST.I.F.FE, sponsored by the UAC Films Committee, to view the screening of eight student-produced films.

Schasse’s unique manipulation of upbeat music and endearing shots earned his film not only the “Audience Award,” but the prizes for “Best Use of a Visual Medium” and “Best Foreign Film” from the UAC committee. This was the first time the committee could recognize a foreign-film category, said ST.I.F.FE coordinator senior Dave Bashaw.

Two silent films, created for CJ 280, the Visual Communication course, also took trophies home.

“Timeless,” the story of a girl who accidentally gets transported from 1890 to 2006 and meets a punk kid before being rescued by her father, won “Best Film,” and “Will It Ever End?” secured “Best Story.” The latter followed two students who can’t seem to do anything right – from waking up late for his big test to toilet paper on the bottom of her shoe – who end up discovering each other through their common interest in the Australia study-abroad program.

Senior Jessica Janiuk directed two ST.I.F.FE films and played a role in a third, “Queering the Family,” directed by sophomore John Nicksic. This documentary had the objective of getting out the word about the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, said Nicksic in his introduction.

Janiuk’s “The Heist Episode 4” is part of a miniseries she is directing through her TV10 work, she said, and “All the Other Bikes Were Locked” was inspired by a printer one of the actors wanted to destroy.

“I knew I was going to be the one directing (‘All the Other Bikes Were Locked’),” Janiuk said, adding that the two-day project was a lot of fun to put together.

Juli Pitzer directed “A Day in the Life,” the first film of the day’s screening, which was shot from the perspective of her cat and earned several ST.I.F.FE award nominations.

She made the film for the 48-hour film festival with her husband, Pitzer said, and it was a new experience, since she is used to working on documentaries.

A sequel to senior Matthew Royten’s ST.I.F.FE award-winning film from last year didn’t do quite as well, but “From the Bottom II the Top” successfully caused audience members to jump through violence and suspense in its grainy, black and white format.

Several ST.I.F.FE directors aren’t limiting their independent film careers to UW-Eau Claire.

Pitzer said she is finishing her film studies minor at Eau Claire and will continue her education in this field.

Janiuk plans to go to film school so she can produce and direct films, she said.

Schasse, an art major, is working on graphic design and hopes to continue experimenting in film and video as well.

Schasse said he taught himself all the software skills necessary to edit “Painting Palmira” and hopes to continue in this self-education with Flash animation this summer.

“Teach yourselves something, pick it up and learn it yourself . you never know where it will lead you,” Schasse said, adding that he wouldn’t have been able to afford his software or his recording and computer equipment if it weren’t for two grants he received for such work. He also emphasized the impact his Costa Rica trip had on his creativity.

“I’ve been able to do so much stuff as an artist because I studied abroad,” he said.

The rest of his independent film work will be shown in Haas as part of the Student Research display, he said.

“It’s OK to take control of your life and be creative,” Schasse said of the message he hoped to portray with “Painting Palmira.”