World Premiere, Student Showcase
Get ready for new worlds of film—literally! Double Exposure spotlights the magic that happens when film-production students team up with student composers and sound designers to creatively forge an entirely original new work. Each brilliant creation will enjoy its world premiere at this one-night-only event!
Presenting original student work, Double Exposure is an innovative and collaborative program made possible through a partnership which brings together The Media School Cinematic Arts, Jacobs School of Music’s Music Scoring for Visual Media program, and IU Cinema. Each film is made, scored, and sound-designed by Indiana University students and will receive its world-premiere presentation on IU Cinema's big screen.
Any film screened at IU Cinema may contain content that viewers find sensitive or upsetting. Visit our Audience Advisories page to learn more.
Anchors
Director: Rocco Jann | Music: Carson Merical
Anchors is a chaotic, farcical duel for viewership between two insane media personalities. While some films make thoughtful critiques of the current state of our broadcast news landscape, Anchors opts for a… different approach. Absurd headlines, unhinged media personalities, whacky visuals—Anchors seeks to make fun of the news in order to make sense of it. So, sit back, grab a friend, and strap in tight, because it’s time to watch the news like you’ve never seen it before. (7 min)
Rainbow Night
Director: Catie Stanton | Music: Tianqi Zhang
When Cassandra, a beautiful soul who has lost her way, goes home, she is faced with a choice: to follow in her mother’s footsteps or to be better. This therapeutic film exhibits a combination of anger, resentment, love, loss, but most importantly, hope. Writer and director CM Stanton, composer Tianqi Zhang, and everyone else hope to take you in, transform you, and heal you. Contains suicide and mental health issues. (6 min)
Handlebars
Director: Dylan Dankel | Music: Niki Simerly
Aging out of foster care, Rowan faces the uncertainty of independence with little more than a backpack, a trash bag of clothes, and a frayed photograph of his younger sibling Riley. Fueled by the drive to reconnect, he sets out into the night.
There’s a Cult in these Woods
Director: Nolan Goode | Music: Theo Morris
I’ve come to the conclusion that I can never be content with one specific way of life, or way of thinking. When it comes to these things, I’m too curious of a person, a trait slowly dying from the chokehold that goliaths like organized religion and technology have put us in. That’s a large reason why I made this film. (6 min)
Invocation
Director: Betsy Leija | Music: Sean Giovanetti
Have you ever felt that something was calling to you? That somewhere in the dark, something was waiting, promising to awaken feelings you have never known? In Invocation, Isa is caught in the haunting struggle between her religious past and a mysterious being that calls to her each night, drawing her toward forbidden desire and uneasy serenity. As her longing deepens, Isa must confront whether surrender is damnation or liberation. (5 min)
Euphoric Spit
Director: Blake Schwandt | Music: Donavan Walker
Set in a charged Los Angeles summer, the film follows a young artist’s journey through fleeting sexual encounters that open portals into his unfelt interior world. What begins as bodily exchange becomes a spiritual excavation—an attempt to sense the parts of himself that exist beyond sight. Through fragmented memories, warmth, and ecstatic disorientation, the film maps desire as a path toward wholeness. (5 min)
Devourer
Director: Goodman Murphy-Smith | Music: Tu Gu
A nameless teenager wanders an unfamiliar house infested by a past it cannot forget. Deep in its endless hallways, a door hides many eyes. Devourer is a sleepwalk through a contemporary teenage experience, lost in a landscape of violent videos, alienation, and technology rotting in the shadow of the Information Age. Contains implied violence against a child and brief flashing lights. (6 min)
Game Theory 101
Director: Gracie Runge | Music: Shmuli Myers
Dom and Kevin, two best friends who enjoy hosting legendary game nights in their apartment, are pushed to their breaking point by their acquaintance, Fitz, who constantly crashes out during games. Fitz is a poor sport, and every time he loses a game, he goes “nuclear.” Dom and Kevin propose a challenge to Fitz: he has one last chance at game night before he is banned from game nights forever. (8 min)
Nostalgia is a Liar
Director: Deo Akiode | Music: Donavan Walker
Our actions outlive us, but so will our inactions. We all live with the burden of our regrets and mistakes, but for some of us, we know our time to make amends for them is running short. In this film, we watch a desperate man try valiantly to do so: his journey reflecting themes of loss, memory, and harsh honesty. (8 min)
To This Ocean
Director: Polina Saburova | Music: Camilo Rincón
This is an experimental multilingual audio-visual poem about home and belonging in the context of migration in the ever-changing world. How can you create a home where there isn’t supposed to be one? When you leave, what stays with you of the place that you call home? Is it a smell or a touch or an image or a sound? Who or what is a home? (6 min)
