The night of the 2012 UNCW Alumni Film Series, presented by Lumina Theater, started out slowly, with only a small crowd scattered throughout the movie-theater seats. The films, however, were not at all small-scale. Two of the six directors whose work was presented were able to be at the show. Both of the former UNCW film students were able to share some of the inspirations and struggles of making their films.

Shledy Treichler’s short film was stylistically and aesthetically pleasing, with attention to every detail of the viewer’s experience. The cinematography was unique, sophisticated and extremely creative. When asked why she chose to make a contemporary interpretation of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” Treichler said she had always loved this concept.

“I took philosophy 101 as a freshman, and that’s one of the only things that stuck with me from that class. Plato uses this allegory of people living in the cave to have people question what is reality and what is perception. As a film student, I thought it would be a really interesting comparison that the theater is the cave and it just kind of symbolizes how people can, when they step outside of this media world that we all live in, find some really cool stuff. Instead of watching a movie about people going hiking, go hiking yourself. I’m not sure if that’s what Plato meant, but that’s how I decided to make the film about it,” said Treichler.

Treichler discussed how most of her experience in film-making had been in the comedy genre and the difficulties of switching from comedy to the experience of making an art film.

“One of the biggest things was it’s just a much different pacing. When we were filming the comedy, it was a lot of improvisation and flying by the seat of your pants and it was OK to restructure how the scene was going because it was all kind of a big joke. With an art film we really had to do a lot of planning ahead of time and know how we wanted it to work out, because if we didn’t get the message across – if it didn’t come full circle – there was no other punch line. In a comedy you have so many jokes that can save a movie, but in an art film, you have the message and that’s all you have and if you don’t have a message, well then why are you even making it?” Said Treichler.

Treichler then explained how making a film in the real world was different than making a film as a student. She even had some advice to give current film students and aspiring filmmakers. She also explained the hardships that came along during the making of “The Cave.”

“We had a problem with locations and then editing. Locations were hard because we weren’t students anymore – and take advantage if you’re a student because people will give you stuff that they don’t give you when you’re not a student anymore. We had to convince people that we were a legitimate production and that we had funding and we were professionals. And then editing – if you find a good editor, hold on to them! We had trouble with an editor who held onto our footage for about a year and kept telling us that he was doing stuff with it, but he never did. So that didn’t work out too well, but then we found a different editor who helped us re-envision it, and it turned out really well, so it was a blessing in disguise.”

Robert Barnett’s film, “Reborn,” was a hauntingly elegant short. It featured jewelry from his sister’s Wilmington-based jewelry company and had an artistic, experimental theme. The short film displayed a powerful dichotomy between dark and light. It was this dichotomy, with scenes that switched seamlessly from night and day, that gave it an edge and a certain level of intrigue. Barnett explained his motivations for creating the short.

“My sister has a jewelry company, actually she’s here in Wilmington, and I just felt like I wanted to make an ad for her. My idea for it was basically a person wrapped up in a social life, and then my sister’s company’s name is Reborn Design so I wanted to do rebirth through an egg hatching and there are a lot of birth motifs and such,” said Barnett.

The feature film of the series was “Tearing Down the Tent,” directed by Michael Knox. UNCW graduates Ryan Haggerty and Martin Ramsey worked on the film. It is a documentary that takes viewers behind the scenes of the Cole Bros. Circus, focusing on the lives of various circus performers. It shows the vibrant community within a circus and delves into the issues that the circus industry faces today from immigrants working on the show to less and less circus-going people. The film brought the big-tent circus to life like never before, with lovable characters and an unknowable future.