By Michael Walsh
For a club that has yet to seek official recognition, the Independent Film Club at CCSU already has a lot on its mind and schedule.
The club was started by CCSU freshmen Conor Lamo and Mike Serignese, who now serve as co-presidents to the club. Both Lamo and Serignese went to Wethersfield High School together.
“The mission of the club would be to serve the community, the university and the members through independent film. We aim for projects using film that will help whether it be charity or exposing something at the university,” said Lamo, a management information systems major.
The group’s latest project involves the creation of a Christmas film in a partnership with Pathways-Senderos, a New Britain teen pregnancy prevention group.
“The kids, aged K-12, developed their own storyline, created characters and produced a script last week with the Independent Film Club. The film will be shown Dec. 11 during a benefit involving CCSU,” said Lamo.
Earlier this semester the club assisted on a video project for the finance association.
“We filmed and now are editing a project for the finance association. A FINRA [Financial Industry Regulatory Authority] representative came in and talked about student debt, so we’re going to be putting that up on their website once their Web site’s up,” said Lamo.
But for Lamo and Serignese, the aims of their club don’t stop at helping only those outside of the group. They also plan on pointing aspiring filmmakers that join the group in the right direction.
“Member wise, what we’re going to do is if people have scripts we’re going to read them over and suggest all that kind of stuff. And then if we could point them in the right direction of equipment we’re going to do that,” said Lamo.
Lamo also stressed the idea of serving members that are thinking of filmmaking as a profession.
“We want to have alliances with local film studios because if members are thinking about profession we want to think about getting them connected with internships. It’s not an easy industry to break into,” said Lamo.
And while at first glance having two presidents might seem strange, the two explain it by describing the difference in their roles.
“People seem to go towards Conor asking for help,” said Serignese, a communication major. “People go to Conor and they’ll ask him ‘Can you do this for us? Can you film this? Would you be interested in doing this?’ Whereas in the meetings I’ll stress more about individual projects.”
Serignese has filmed a couple of shorter films over the past few years and filmed a feature length film about the Vietnam War two summers ago.
“I’ve written screenplays and have gotten a bunch of scripts done, so I’m more about helping everyone on their own type of stuff,” said Serignese. “As much as we want everyone to help us out with the big projects for the club, we’re also encouraging everyone to work on their own stuff on the side. I’m working on my stuff but also doing everything with the club.”
The two stressed that their end goal is for the group to be able to hold an annual film festival showcasing the projects that members have completed.
“Our ultimate goal, if not this year, at least by maybe the end of first semester next year, is that we want to get together projects we’ve done together as a club and projects that we’ve done individually,” said Serignese. “Then pool them all together and see if we can get the Torp Theatre or Welte or a local high school or something to see if we can bring in some money for the club and get our name out there.”
While they hope to hold at least one in the four years they attend CCSU, their ideal plan would be to hold on every year.
“I just don’t think this year is going to be possible just because we have such a limited budget allowed,” said Lamo.
And as the club grows and pushes towards that ultimate goal, they’re also seeking new members. Leadership positions are also open for this upcoming semester. Right now the club has seen increased membership and plays host to a variety of students.
“A lot of people actually have interest in it. Even in our club there are a lot of different people in it that want to do different things,” said Lamo. “We have a director of music now because this kid comes in and plays guitar. People aren’t all saying they want to direct, they want to do the music or do the marketing.”
The club is seeking official recognition on Dec. 15.
