Short films have only been around for a little over 120 years. Even more recent is the beginning of film festivals, which occurred in 1932. Consequently, short films have a long way to go before becoming as mainstream as full-length films. Critics of the short film like to bring up the fact that very little can be accomplished in a film within such a short amount of time. The details and plot are limited — less background, fewer characters, essentially less of everything.

Their criticism, of course, is at least partly true: Short films do not have a lot of time to create complicated plots with side characters or subplots or slow-burning romances. Every single aspect of a short film has to matter. Perhaps in this way, it is a kind of poetry. It can speak to the soul and the mind if people look hard enough. 

The easiest place to look may lie within the creativity of college students. The 2019 College Homecoming Showcase is one of many Maryland film festivals throughout the year. This particular festival featured a number of students from many different Maryland universities — Stevenson, Towson and University of Maryland, Baltimore County to name a few. 

The entire show consisted of a setlist of 11 films categorized by animation, live-action and a mix of the two. Four of those films were created, written, directed and performed by UMBC students: “Man With Arms” by Chris Muse, “Willow” by Ezra Pailer, “Reincarnate” co-directed by Kyle Hartford and Syed Hussain and “Phantom” by Natalie ‘Tulie’ Mitiuriev.

Each of the films had clear emotions and a distinct direction. Granted, they were not completely perfect, but they all had something important to say about the human experience, and that is what art is supposed to do.

The effective emotional execution in these short films definitely stems from something deeper, from the origins of the filmmakers themselves. In reference to his history in this field, Hartford was able to confidently say, “I always wanted to be a filmmaker and I really don’t know how to do anything else.”

This is what the critics of short films don’t consider. Short films may not have the same amount of intricacy that full-length movies do, but they represent the artists in a way that those movies never could. Makers of short films often have a personal connection to what they do and they really do put themselves — their emotions, their issues, their love — into their work. “I could relate myself to fictional characters more so than the people around me,” Mitiuriev said. “What I saw within a lot of animated characters was this perseverance past all of their adversity and I wanted to see myself finding my own happily ever after.”

When asked how his film affected him personally, Pailer added, “When I was growing up, there was this willow tree… It was a magical sort of place and I spent a lot of time there. The tree had a presence… and I felt this genuine relationship to it. And when it was cut down a few years ago I did feel this sense of grief and loss.”

No matter how different their stories and paths to this point in their lives may be, each of the filmmakers has something in common: passion. All of them were happy with where they were and what they had created. 

And they have good reason to be proud. This form of art is a difficult one. There is harsh criticism from all sides, and some people dismiss these types of films altogether. However, there is still something unique, something special about the art of the short film. It is one of the only ways the public can be placed directly into the mind of the filmmaker. It requires a lot of attention to detail. As mentioned before, every second has to matter in a short film, so those who grasp onto their seconds and captivate the audience the entire time, as these five students did, have a talent and passion that some could only hope for. 

The sole purpose of the short film is to give an idea, an emotion to the audience they can resonate with. But with enough passion for the work, understanding of the human experience and endless amounts of personal connection, short films can easily become some of the best minutes of a person’s life.

To check out the exclusive interviews from these UMBC students, go to The Retriever UMBC’s Official Campus Newspaper YouTube channel.

Photo Credit: The 2019 Homecoming Showcase took place at the Parkway Theatre on September 5th. Photo by Rafhael Dungca.

Lauren Mauriello begins her meetings by setting community standards.

The Assistant Director of Student Conduct opened her workshops at LeadingOrgs, a mandatory student organization leadership training, by asking what method was best for gathering everyone’s attention in the almost full University Center classroom. She uses restorative practices, a tool that emphasizes building relationships between people, repairing harm and rebuilding trust when harm occurs.

“Everybody on the campus has to be thinking in a restorative way for it to really make a difference,” Mauriello said.

Restorative practices were first introduced to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in 2011 when the department of Student Conduct and Community Standards first began talking about implementing the practice on campus. The department then brought subject matter experts into UMBC to learn how to use restorative practices in student conduct processes, but the idea did not initially stick. 

It was not until 2014, when Residential Life partnered with Student Conduct and Community Standards, that the initiative started gaining ground. Now, as Residential Life and other partners work to introduce restorative practices to more groups across campus, they are focused on building the groundwork for community building in less conventional places.

“We’re always looking to expand our reach of restorative practices in the UMBC community,” said Davonya Hall, the Assistant Director of Student Conduct and Community Standards. “We’re also going to focus more on our academic relationships.”

Residential Life and the Student Conduct and Community Standards office already have procedures which use restorative practices, but student organizations, club sports and academic departments may not get the chance to experience and gain from these methods if they do not engage with these other departments. 

UMBC hosts about four restorative practice trainings per year, which are meant to give students, faculty, staff and outside leaders the tools to bring these practices into their own communities. 

“We really have to make sure we’re reaching students where they’re at,” Mauriello said.

Timmy Farrell, who is now a graduate student at Virginia Tech studying higher education and student affairs, utilized the techniques he learned in these trainings when he was in the National Alliance of Mental Illness, or NAMI. He abandoned the club’s typical presentation-style meeting and instead rearranged the classroom to form a circle, which he said “felt like the right thing to do.”

“This meeting was different because it turned into all of us sitting in a circle talking about how we practiced self-care,” Farrell said. “It brought to the forefront the relationships we had together in NAMI. I wish we did more of those meetings.”

Farrell, in his position as an office assistant for restorative practices and Residential Life, has written a series of blog posts breaking down different aspects of restorative practices and how student organization leaders can incorporate them into their general body meetings and organizational culture.

“As I’ve been introduced to restorative practices, I really embraced it and found it to be extremely useful and beneficial and intuitive to me and how I want to be a leader,” Farrell said.  

According to the International Institute for Restorative Practices, restorative practitioners should spend 80 percent of their time building community. At UMBC, Hall and Mauriello said that begins by sharing small. Making sure community members feel heard means they will eventually feel more comfortable speaking up, raising concerns and participating in organizational change.

“We commit to community, and that’s what we’re here to do,” Mauriello said. “The way that we build that community matters.”

Editor's Note: This article has been updated to represent the departments of people working towards implementing restorative practices on campus, not just the people mentioned in this article. Updated Sept. 11, 2019.

Photo Credit: Students at LeadingOrgs gather for Lauren Mauriello's session entitled Leading With Your Team: Balancing Accountability and Support. Photo by E.G. 

While the University of Maryland, Baltimore County Retriever men’s soccer team has their sights on the 2019 America East Conference title after making it to the finals in 2018, the team came into their game on Sept. 8 against the St. Peter’s University Peacocks with ground to cover to reach that goal. The Retrievers lost their first two games at home to the Incarnate Word University Cardinals and the Hofstra University Pride, leaving their record at 0-2. With the Peacocks’ record of 1-0 and their determination to win their first two away games, the Retrievers had work to do.

The Retrievers had a defensive first half. By 15 minutes, the Peacocks made a dangerous cross into the box and attempted to score. Sophomore goalkeeper Quantrell Jones made a sprawling fingertip save off the goal line to keep the game scoreless.

With less than one minute to play in the first half, the Peacocks converted their scoring opportunities into a goal. With a header goal by freshman forward Dominic Laws, his first goal of the season, from a corner kick, the Peacocks brought the game to 1-0.

The second half marked the Retriever’s comeback as they applied immediate pressure to the Peacocks. In the 57th minute, senior defender Trey Vinson passed a well-placed ball to a sprinting sophomore midfielder Alejandro Arbelaez. With a cross into the box from Arbelaez, senior forward Tre Pulliam striked the ball into the back of the net, making the game 1-1.

Four minutes later, after a wild melee for the ball in the 6-yard box due to the Peacock’s goalie being unable to control the ball, freshman midfielder Ryan Becher scored his first collegiate goal to give the Retrievers the first lead they have had all season with a score of 2-0.

The Retriever’s defense stepped up with numerous great plays to prevent the Peacocks from tying the game and to keep Jones clean for the last 30 minutes of the game. In addition, the team’s defense created many scoring opportunities to keep the pressure on the Peacocks, passing the ball up the field to generate an additional six shots on goal.

The Retrievers outnumbered the Peacocks in shots on goal and corner kicks with Becher responsible for six shots made on goal throughout the game.

After a shaky 0-2 start to the season, the Retrievers have bounced back with this win to improve to 1-2 while the Peacocks fall to 1-1 on their campaign. With the Retrievers having wrapped up the UMBC-Navy Classic against the St. Bonaventure Bonnies on Sunday, the team looks to play three more games before heading into their conference matches starting Sept. 28.