Spring 2026 End of Semester Screenings
We are excited to present this semester's student work! Free and open to the public over five days (Thursday, April 23 and Thursday, April 30–Sunday, May 3rd). Script readings and film screenings will take place at various venues, as noted below, wrapping up on Sunday with graduate films, including MFA thesis films.
We hope you can join us!
Schedule
Warning: Films may contain adult content and scenes that some viewers may find disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised. Student films are the creation of the filmmakers and are not intended to reflect the views or values of The University of Texas at Austin.
Thursday, 4/23
6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. 2nd Year MFA Screenwriting Showcase
All are welcome to hear a staged reading of 10 pages from second-year MFA Screenwriting students. A reception will precede the reading.
Thursday, 4/30
4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. Rogue Screening • RTF Students
5:00 p.m.-6:30 p.m. RTF 340 Multi-Camera Television Directing • David Schneider
7:00 p.m.-9:20 p.m. RTF 366K Documentary Production • Em Shapiro
Friday, 5/1
3:00 p.m.-4:45 p.m. RTF 366K Narrative Production • Ya’ke Smith
5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. RTF 366K Narrative Production • Iliana Sosa
7:15 p.m.–8:30 p.m. RTF 366K Narrative Production • Eva Chaitman
Kenny Dorham’s Backyard (1106 E 11th St)
8:30 p.m.-10:00 p.m. RTF 366K East Austin Stories • Arturo Jiménez
Saturday, 5/2
Texas Union Theatre (UNB 2.228)
12:00 p.m.–1:10 p.m. RTF 343 Advanced Narrative Production • Berndt Mader
1:15 p.m.-5:15 p.m. RTF 343 Advanced Documentary Production • Iliana Sosa
(2 blocks with intermission)
5:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. RTF 368 Undergraduate Production Thesis • Richard Lewis
(2 blocks with intermission) These films were produced in part thanks to the support of the Truchard Film Student Support Fund.
Hyperreal Film Club (301 Chicon St)
7:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. RTF 366K Queer Media Production • PJ Raval
Sunday, 5/3
Texas Union Theatre (UNB 2.228)
12:30 p.m.–2:15 p.m. MFA First-Year Narrative Production • Miguel Alvarez
2:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m. MFA Pre-Thesis • Anne Lewis
Texas Union Santa Rita Room (3.502)
5:45 p.m.- 6:45 p.m. MFA Thesis Reception
Texas Union Theatre (UNB 2.228)
7:00 p.m.-9:40 p.m. MFA Thesis • Miguel Alvarez
Graduate Thesis Films
Marking the culmination of their MFA program, new and recent graduates will screen their thesis films for the public on Sunday night, May 3, at 7:00 p.m. at the Texas Union Theater (UNB 2.228).
Join us upstairs in the Santa Rita Room (UNB 3.502) immediately before the screenings at 5:45 p.m. for a light reception.
The event is free and open to the community.
BREAD N' BUTTA
Directed by Owokere "Benji" Unanaowo
In 1958, celebrated entertainer Fred “Bread” Washington returns to live TV, only to be blindsided when his former partner Benny “Butta” Bell steps onto the stage for a reunion he never agreed to. What looks like a heartwarming surprise to the white studio audience is, for Butta, a calculated confrontation—his moment to expose the man who left him behind in their climb toward fame. But as the night unfolds under unforgiving studio lights, Butta begins to see the cracks in Bread’s success and realizes that stardom may have cost him far more than it ever gave. By the end of the broadcast, both men must face the truth they’ve spent decades avoiding—live, raw, and with no place left to hide.
15 min | Drama
DEAR NORA
Directed by Jay Thomas
A faded film star hires an actress to rehearse scenes for an upcoming project, but as the tenuous setup unravels the desperate truth behind what they’re really rehearsing is revealed.
17 min | Drama
SANA SANA
Directed by Lizannette Velasco
Sana Sana follows the story of a young woman who returns to Puerto Rico and is forced to confront the complexities of her diasporic identity. Caught between the pull of home and the reality of its transformation, she must decide whether she stays or goes. The film begins from this tension, tracing the distance between memory and present experiences and asking what it means to belong to a place that no longer feels entirely one’s own. What does it look like to confront one’s own embodied memory of what no longer exists?
17 min | Drama
SUCKA!
Directed by Crayton Gerst
At his wits end of being amongst children, a young boy in search of place finds himself at the butt of jokes during the family roast.
13 min | Comedy
CHABACANO
Directed by Mauricio Hernandez Serrano
A paper boat unexpectedly falls into a labyrinth of mirrors, where it discovers another boat that exists only in reflection. Desperate not to be alone, it will do everything to turn this illusion into reality. "Chabacano" is a stop-motion meditation on desire and the irreversible cost of becoming.
9 min | Animation
MWAKENYA
Directed by Musila Munuve
A paper boat unexpectedly falls into a labyrinth of mirrors, where it discovers another boat that exists only in reflection. Desperate not to be alone, it will do everything to turn this illusion into reality. "Chabacano" is a stop-motion meditation on desire and the irreversible cost of becoming.
18 min | Drama
TOO LATE
Directed by Christian Meola
A heartbroken womanizer with a bad reputation chases after the only girl he’s ever had feelings for when she moves to Florida.
30 min | *Adult Content
