The student films were shown at Sony Studios in Culver City, California. Photos: Mark Von Holden for the University of Miami

By Michael R. Malone
5-19-2026
This story originally appeared in News@TheU

“Does anyone want to film a movie in Serbia?”

When Rafal Sokolowski, an associate professor in the University of Miami School of Communication’s Department of Cinematic Arts, posed the question to his class, saying a small grant was available, Jessica Bachman, leaped at the offer.

Bachman, originally from Venezuela and whose first language is Spanish, had no connection to Serbia or its culture, yet she pitched hard and lobbied with everything she could think of to secure the opportunity.

Bachman’s film “Black Wedding” was one of the eight “Best of the Best” student films screened at the LA Canes Film Showcase in Los Angeles on May 14. Filmed over just two days in Serbia, “Black Wedding” featured top Serbian actors, as well as costumes and sets that reflected the film’s early 1900s setting, and themed on a rare and ancient Serbian funeral ceremony in which a young (deceased) man is “married” to a fiancé or friend to prevent his soul from wandering in the afterlife.

“It wasn’t the mightiest of grants, but we had the mightiest of spirit. We did the production in just a day and a half and had to fight against all the odds—the weather, the budget, an actors’ strike, everything—to make it happen,” said Bachman, who had a second film, “Marry Rich and Often,” selected for the showcase as well.

Bachman earned an undergraduate degree at Florida International University, then worked for five years before coming to the University for her M.F.A. degree in motion pictures. She graduated this spring.

“I never imagined I would make movies and didn’t think I could do it when I first started,” she explained. “I’m a self-taught editor, and I wanted real experience with VFX (visual effects), so I started making movies and people started liking them,” she added.

The LA Canes Film Showcase is an annual School of Communication event that takes the best student films—this year, eight chosen from over 60 screened at the Canes Film Festival in Miami two weeks ago—for a screening in Tinseltown. The event took place this year at Sony Studios in Culver City, a hub for the Los Angeles movie industry.

In addition to the showcase evening, attended by invited alumni and industry workers, the student filmmakers toured cinematic facilities—this year, Lightstorm, a postproduction house known for its work on the “Avatar” films; Film Independent, which hosts and adjudicated the Film Independent Spirit Awards; Paramount Pictures Studios; Dolby Theatre; and Company 3, a postproduction company that most recently worked on the biopic film “Michael,” explained Alfred Martin, associate professor and department chair.

“On one hand, the showcase gives students a boost, such as their parents might say, ‘You did a really good job,’ but also more than a parent’s accolades, the showcase provides external validation,” Martin said. “For grad students in their second year, this external boost of confidence might be the impetus to take another look, maybe make some other edits before the final cut and sending their film out to film festivals—where hopefully they get a little love.

“But what’s really important,” Martin highlighted, “is that we all just sat together in a theater and watched eight films that were made by the best of human imagination.”

Martin, who assumed coordination of the event two years ago, said he especially appreciated the distinctive points of view and that all the films, even those with the darkest of themes, included a dose of humor.

“I loved that we saw eight very different films, that they were all diverse points of view for how our students see humanity—and that they leaned into comedy,” Martin noted, adding that, in addition to the screening, the associated tours and visits are meant to “cultivate exposure, and a way to see the broadness of the Hollywood universe.”

Sér Lance Walker, who also just graduated from the program, and Oana Martisca, an alumna of the program, teamed to write, direct, and produce “Lamar,” the story of a boy trapped in the throes of cyclical inner-city poverty and violence, while offering a perspective on Black masculinity.

“This was my first time working with a child actor, and in this case, a child actor who had never acted in a narrative film. I knew the casting would make or break my film, so the pressure was around his fatigue factor—and I think he did a beautiful job,” Walker said. “It was really me pouring myself into these characters that helped convey what I wanted on the screen.”

For the film, Walker explained that he drew from his own life growing up in Forrest City, Arkansas, a small city but one rife with violence, reflecting on his relationship with his own older brother and how he was impacted when a teenage neighbor was killed.

For “Lucky Fly,” director Can Gumusgerdan adapted a script he had written, traveled with his producer, Tony Romeo, and a tiny crew to Japan—a country he had visited as part of the University’s film study program and fell in love with—and located Japanese actors there to produce his film, all in Japanese.

Born in the United States but raised in Turkey, Gumusgerdan grew up making videos for YouTube and came to the United States to study—as his father had done and encouraged him to do. He studied marketing as an undergraduate at FIU, then transferred to the University graduate program to pursue his love of film.

Gumusgerdan spoke only sketchy Japanese and parlayed with his producer and actors—who spoke only Japanese—to convey instructions and dialogue.

“It was all so guerrilla-style, back and forth, and I have the camera in my hands the whole time as the DP [director of photography],” Gumusgerdan explained.

Both his lead actor and Walker’s won best acting awards for the festival. Gumusgerdan’s actress has won awards in other festivals, and he will travel back to Tokyo for a showcase there together with her.

Diane Peterson, who graduated with a film degree from the University in 1972 and wrote a book, “Hollywood Stuntwoman: Follow Your Dreams,” was among the many alumni on hand for the showcase.

The LA Canes Film Showcase films this year:

“Black Wedding” (dir. Jessica Bachman)

“Bleach Burns” (dir. Perry Feder)

“Lamar” (dir. Sér Lance Walker)

“Lucky Fly” (dir. Can Gumusgerdan)

“Marry Rich and Often” (dir. Jessica Bachman)

“Panopticon Beach and Vacation Club” (dir. Arthur Borde)

“Scarlet” (dir. Bill Ledoux)

“Undivided Attention” (dir. Isabelle Sturges)

Plus, Georgia Tombs’ screenplay “Salt Skin”