Just Announced, Student Showcase
Catch the latest and greatest new work from IU student filmmakers.
The Seventh Annual Montage Film Festival is IU's yearly celebration of student-produced films. Submitted films are viewed and judged by IU alumni and awarded in several categories, including Best in Show, Best Cinematography, and Best Acting or Performance. Montage is a collaboration between IU Cinema and The Media School.
The collective runtime of the films is 90 minutes.
Any film screened at IU Cinema may contain content that viewers find sensitive or upsetting. Visit our Audience Advisories page to learn more.
Bonnie and Clyde (4 min) | Directed by Olivia Kinoshita
A lesbian Bonnie and Clyde, three vignettes follow their seemingly mundane daily life: grocery shopping and cooking, gardening, and peaceful drives. Each short feels like a romance until the chilling twist reveals they are murderers, turning each vignette into a thriller.
Kansas (7 min) | Directed by Goodman Murphy-Smith
Diary entries processing escalating grief are read aloud to a montage of still frames.
Escape (10 min) | Directed by Noah Sanchez
A fading romantic comes across an intriguing newspaper ad from a woman looking to escape a washed-out marriage.
Cascade (4 min) | Directed by Dmitry N. Aslanov-Ohler
A man struck with grief gives in to temptation and loses his mind. Contains substance use.
Allure (10 min) | Directed by Dylan Dankel
Following an onstage meltdown, one
young guitarist must confront his bandmates as they demand answers, all the while contemplating his relationship with each of them. Contains substance use.
Just Penelope Band Doc (7 min) | Directed by Betzabeth Leija-Castaneda
Through rehearsals and live sets, this documentary short follows Just Penelope, an up-and-coming local noise rock band, off and on stage, revealing the creative friction, shared obsession, and unspoken chemistry that fuel their uncompromising sound.
BL1NK (11 min) | Directed by Alex Ruppert
A young boy struggles to grieve the loss of his mother, but finds guidance in an AI friend instead of his father.
Pesticide (4 min) | Directed by Gavin Baldwin
A boy has an eye-opening conversation with a wise old cockroach.
Racket Abuse (10 min) | Directed by Gracie Runge
A friendly college tennis match takes a destructive turn once tension arises.
Lookout (4 min) | Directed by Danny William
A detective hunts for a missing girl.
Debt of Blood (13 min) | Directed by Marissa Baker
Set during the crack epidemic of the 1980s, a young woman struggling with addiction uncovers a buried truth about her past and her closest friend. Contains substance use and violence.
Cogito, ergo sum (6 min) | Directed by Ahmed Tahsin Shams
When clay speaks, history listens. Cogito, ergo sum is a hybrid documentary that fuses the real-life reflections of ceramicist Malcolm Mobutu Smith with a claymation resurrection of two long-erased Black comic characters—Whitewash Jones and Li’L Tuffy—who return to confront their origins, reclaim their stories, and ask, “Who’s holding the pen now?”
