Harvard College Film Festival

The Harvard Art Museums will screen the winning films in this year’s student-run Harvard College Film Festival, which provides undergraduates across the world with an opportunity to create and submit films to be screened, judged, and awarded for creative excellence and powerful perspective. The afternoon program will also include a panel discussion with acclaimed artists and producers in the film industry.

Noon–12:30pm: Opening remarks and awards
12:30–2:45pm: Screenings of award-winning films
3–4pm: Industry panel on the topic of new media

Panelists:
David Karlak
David Karlak is a filmmaker based in Los Angeles. In 2001, he directed the short film The Candidate, which went on to create a huge buzz in Hollywood after the short made the prestigious Viewfinder List in 2011 and played at film festivals around the world. Following the success of the film, Karlak sold an original sci-fi pitch to Warner Brothers titled Rise with Roy Lee producing, and then a second original sci-fi pitch to Warner Brothers titled Outliers to 20th Century Fox with Peter Chernin producing. Karlak is attached to direct both films. In recent years, Karlak has also been exploring the use of virtual reality to tell story, having directed a virtual reality experience set in the world of Rise, which premiered at the Storyscapes series at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2014.

Sev Ohanian
Sev graduated from USC Film School four years ago, and has been a producer on ten feature films since, three of which have been Sundance Film Festival Official Selections in the U.S. Dramatic Competition. His first film, Fruitvale Station, won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2013. Last year’s Results premiered at Sundance and was acquired by Magnolia Pictures. And his most recent film, The Intervention, premiered at Sundance this year and was acquired by Paramount. He’s also produced films for Fox Digital Studios, James Franco’s Rabbit Bandini Productions, and even an international co-production with China Film Group. He’s been named one of 11 Innovators Changing Hollywood by The Wrap, alongside Angelina Jolie, Jimmy Fallon, and other industry names. He also serves as an adjunct professor at USC.

Parvez Sharma
Parvez Sharma is an award-winning filmmaker and writer. He directed and produced the award-winning A Jihad for Love, which premiered at the 2007 Toronto Film Festival and opened the prestigious Panorama Dokumente section of the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival. The film went on to screen for over eight million people in 51 nations and was theatrically distributed in the United States and Canada. He was named one of 50 Visionaries Who are Changing Your World in a list headed by the Dalai Lama. His writings on Islamic, racial, and political issues have frequently appeared in such publications as The Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, and The Guardian, to name a few. He has become a prominent speaker on Muslim issues, speaking at hundreds of live events around the world and conducting workshops with the U.S. State Department and the Department of Homeland Security.

The event will take place in Menschel Hall, Lower Level.

Free admission

Support for this program is provided by the Richard L. Menschel Endowment Fund.