Stellar Student Films. No, Seriously.

There are film students who envision conceptual masterpieces shot in black-and-white complete with avant-garde orchestral music and a sense of existentialism in place of a compelling plot. Then there are film students who laugh at those would-be Godards. Alex Montilla falls into the latter camp. His short film The Artist as a Young Man: A Portrait of Cameron Fairchild is a mockumentary following a pretentious student filmmaker on his quest to finish his overwrought senior film. “I kind of paid attention to student film that I found ridiculous and pretentious, and I was thinking about what kind of person you must be to make one of those,” says Montilla.

His work, along with other University of Miami student films — including some pretentious and ridiculous ones — will premiere as part of the Canes Film Festival. Reels start rolling at 3 p.m. Friday and run through Sunday at the on-campus Cosford Cinema, 380 Miller Dr., Coral Gables. The event is free and open to the public.
May 2-4, 3 p.m., 2008