Contigo follows Jade, a young woman who returns to the site of a secret experiment in Venezuela to uncover the truth about what was done to her, and to confront the man responsible. Perez, who directed and co-wrote the film, describes it as one of the first action films produced at 四虎影视, a distinction he takes pride in.

“Contigo was a very ambitious film with a lot of moving parts, but also an incredibly fulfilling experience,” said Perez. “It was special to make one of the first action films at Ringling. This film took so much energy and commitment from everyone involved, and I couldn’t be more grateful for the cast and crew who helped bring it to life.”

A hallmark of the production was its collaboration with industry stunt professionals. Stunt actors Jewelianna Ramos-Ortiz and Justin Ortiz, who also served as stunt coordinator, brought a level of action design rarely seen in student filmmaking. “Collaborating with industry stunt actors like Jewelianna Ramos-Ortiz and Justin Ortiz really elevated the film, allowing us to implement quality action design while still staying true to the story,” Perez added.

The film features a cast that includes Ramos-Ortiz as lead character Jade, Yamil Piedra as Miguel Torres, and Alex Mancillas and Haley Glass in supporting roles. The crew was composed largely of fellow Ringling students, with co-writer and director of photography Tan Kitapli, producers Michaela Cowan and Hayley Kirk, and composer Sergio De Miguel among the collaborators who helped shape the film’s final form.

Now in its 31st year, the Palm Beaches Student Showcase of Films is Florida’s largest student film competition, drawing more than 600 submissions in 2026. The program, which has awarded over $4.5 million in prizes and scholarships since its founding in 1995, is open free of charge to Florida high school and college students.

Perez expressed gratitude for the recognition. “I’m grateful to the Palm Beach Student Showcase for this recognition and for giving student filmmakers a platform to share their films and celebrate their hard work and talent.”

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Now in its 28th year, the Sarasota Film Festival ran April 10鈥�19, 2026, celebrating its mission of honoring the art of filmmaking while bringing cultural and educational value to the community. 四虎影视’s Morganroth Auditorium, located at 2363 Bradenton Road, served as one of the festival’s key venues for a packed final weekend of screenings and events.

On Friday, April 17, the Morganroth Auditorium hosted an Animated Shorts block featuring 12 films by 四虎影视 Computer Animation students and recent alumni. The lineup was a testament to the breadth and originality that define the program, spanning wildly different tones, styles, and subject matter.

Among the highlights: Date Knight followed a young knight who donned a handmade dragon costume to catfish a real dragon he matched with on a dating app, only for the scheme to spiral into chaos. Praying for Love took a darkly comic look at a female praying mantis struggling with her cannibalistic tendencies while searching for romance. Dogs of Bishkek sent a young boy named Sasha on a tense, wintry chase through Kyrgyzstan as he tried to bring sausages to his sick mother, only to be stalked by the city’s most fearsome stray. And The Legend of King Nibbles offered a fable about a hamster king brought low by his own greed.

Other films in the block explored themes of identity and self-acceptance (Beautify), the pressures of competitive sports and overbearing parents (Loud and Proud), coexistence between opposites (Total Opposites), and the chaos that ensued when gold miners couldn’t agree (Striking Gold).

On Saturday, April 18, the festival brought a timely and thought-provoking conversation to campus. SFF Talks: AI in Film 鈥� What’s Next? in the Morganroth Auditorium was a free event featuring a showcase of AI-made short films followed by a panel discussion with leading voices in the field.

Panelists included 四虎影视 faculty member Rick Dakan, who is the head of 四虎影视’s AI Task Force, launching the new Creative Technologies major, and co-launching the Center for the Creative Economy; Professor John Licato of USF’s Bellini College of AI, Cybersecurity and Computing; and filmmaker and SFF Managing Director Paul Ratner, among other AI educators.

The festival weekend closed on Sunday, April 19, with Best of Ringling Film, a two-hour showcase from noon to 2 pm featuring the strongest short films from 四虎影视’s Film department. The program included the premiere of Gamble Creek Farms, a short documentary produced by film students in partnership with Florida Eco Films and Ringling’s Index program. Rounding out the program were five additional short films: Huzzah! directed by Claire Simmons, A1 directed by Emma Holloway, That Really Ruffles My Feathers directed by Colin Kirkpatrick, Beyond Brains directed by Lorena Da Cruz, and The One in Red directed by Nicholas Muzzillo.

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RaMell Ross, the director behind the Golden Globe-winning, Oscar-nominated historical drama Nickel Boys, brought his unique approach to cinema to 四虎影视. Ross spent a day with students through a series of events across campus. Meeting with multiple groups throughout the day, Ross generously engaged students on a series of topics.

The Morganroth Auditorium buzzed with excitement from both students and faculty. Ross鈥攁 critically acclaimed artist, writer, director, and Brown University professor, and a distinctive voice in contemporary cinema鈥攕pent the day on campus as the featured guest of the 41st Annual Visiting Art Historian Lecture Series, co-hosted by the Liberal Arts and Film Departments.

The day鈥檚 events included meeting with students on the Film Soundstages throughout the day, giving students the opportunity to sit down with the filmmaker, who chatted candidly about filmmaking, his process, and life. In the afternoon, his film Nickel Boys was screened in the Morganroth Auditorium, followed by a talk and Q&A session.

As an artist, Ross deliberately centers Black experience and perspective in his work. His path to cinema was non-linear. Before becoming a filmmaker, Ross played professional basketball for a team in Ireland鈥檚 SuperLeague North Division. Following his basketball career in Ireland, he returned to the United States to teach, a role he continues as an associate professor in the Visual Arts Department at Brown University. He has had numerous art and photography exhibitions.

His documentary debut, Hale County This Morning, This Evening (2018), earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature, along with a Special Jury Award at Sundance and a Peabody Award.

He then made the leap to narrative filmmaking with Nickel Boys, adapted from Colson Whitehead鈥檚 2019 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, which received Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay nominations at the 97th Academy Awards.

Nickel Boys tells the story of two Black teenagers at an abusive Florida reform school during the Jim Crow era, inspired by the real-life horrors of the Dozier School for Boys, informed by the real-life testimonials gathered by Whitehead for the novel. What sets the film apart is its radical formal approach: shot entirely from the first-person point of view of its two protagonists, Ross鈥檚 concept of 鈥渟entient perspective鈥� or 鈥淏lack subjectivity鈥� asks audiences not to observe these young men鈥檚 lives, but to live inside them.

For students who spent the day with Ross, the visit felt like more than an inspiring lecture. Jayde Dauley, Film Senior and Black Student Union President, who also helped give Ross a tour of the film department鈥檚 facilities and showcased Black history in the surrounding area, reflected on the significance of the visit. 鈥淎s a film senior, I was ecstatic at the opportunity to meet and talk with RaMell Ross. Being able to hold conversation and ask questions about his life and work was exciting and entirely welcomed by my peers and I.鈥�

鈥淎s a filmmaker myself, I found it helpful to receive advice from an active filmmaker in industry whose work is intentional and cultured,鈥� Dauley shared.

Daniel Pacheco, who organized the recording of the lecture and Q&A and had the chance to speak with Ross afterwards, was struck by both the filmmaker鈥檚 generosity of spirit and the precision of his artistic thinking. 鈥淚 felt as if my consciousness expanded just listening to him. He鈥檚 not only a true artist in every sense of the word, but also a scholar and one of the most inspiring filmmakers I鈥檝e had the privilege of talking to,鈥� Pacheco shared. 鈥淟earning about his views on cinema and his own approach to art has had a profound impact on me, and I think it鈥檚 already changed my trajectory as an artist.鈥� One line in particular stayed with him: Ross鈥檚 observation that as an artist, 鈥測ou鈥檙e always trying to make something smarter than yourself.鈥�

鈥淚t was one of the best experiences I鈥檝e had at Ringling by far,鈥� Pacheco said. 鈥淚鈥檓 so grateful for Hector Sotomayor and all the people responsible for putting this together.鈥�

The Visiting Art Historian Lecture Series is now in its 41st year, continuing its mission of bringing transformative creative voices to campus.

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Race, who also received a total of four Gold ADDYs, earned her Best in Show recognition for Between Us, an infographic iPad application that visualizes data on loneliness with interconnected personal stories. She also received a Judge鈥檚 Choice award for Two Wheels @Houston, a campaign to promote bicycling as a lower-stress alternative to traffic-heavy commutes.

The other two Judge鈥檚 Choice awards went to Nathan Kipka 鈥�27, Motion Design and Brallan Ramirez 鈥�27, Graphic Design.

In total, 四虎影视 Graphic Design students took home 20 Gold Awards, one Best in Show, and two Judge鈥檚 Choice. Motion Design students won 55 Gold Awards, 12 Silver, and one Judge鈥檚 Choice. Film Students won five Gold Awards and one Silver Award.

The local ADDYs are the first step in a three-tier national competition presented by the American Advertising Federation (AAF). These winners can go on to compete in the district round, and district winners can then compete for a national ADDY Award.

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The certificate program offers a comprehensive introduction to the rapidly evolving field of virtual production, bridging the gap between conventional film production practices and advanced digital workflows. Through direct engagement with state-of-the-art LED wall technology, real-time rendering, and virtual production pipelines, students are prepared for emerging roles in the entertainment industry.

On December 3, we visited the class to observe students actively working on projects inside the soundstages. Throughout the day, students filmed scenes in front of large LED screens displaying virtual environments developed during the course, demonstrating how virtual environments can be seamlessly integrated into live-action filmmaking.

The Virtual Production I course is co-taught by Virtual Reality Development Faculty Ana Carolina Pereira and Film Faculty Mark Parry and is taught on the soundstages. The introductory course brings together students from multiple departments, ensuring that all participants鈥攔egardless of their academic background鈥攍earn both cinematic and real-time 3D workflows side by side. The curriculum covers the virtual production pipeline, including environment assembly, display configuration, and filming techniques specific to LED walls.

Collaboration is a central focus of the course. Students work together to develop a shared technical and creative language across disciplines while learning essential tools and workflows. The class culminates in individual projects where students design, operate, and film their own virtual production scenes from start to finish.

鈥淔or me, getting the chance to take this class and learn hands-on has been so helpful,鈥� said Danny Connolly 鈥�26, Film. 鈥淲e get to work from start to finish on designing scenes, putting them on the LED wall, and finally shooting and editing the scenes on set. I really feel ready to go into the industry with all the knowledge and experience I鈥檝e gotten from class.鈥�

Upon completing the Virtual Production Certificate, students demonstrate technical proficiency in real-time rendering, LED wall operation, and camera tracking; apply artistic decision-making that enhances storytelling and visual quality; and perform effectively in collaborative crew roles within professional virtual production environments.

The nine-credit certificate includes Virtual Production I and Virtual Production II, along with either a Film Internship or the Virtual Post-Production class. Together, these courses provide a focused pathway for students seeking practical experience and industry-relevant skills in virtual production.

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Directed by Benjamin Kegan, Seconds Away offers an intimate view of the close relationship between the Olympic-hopeful Belgian American runner Peter Callahan and his coach Patrick McHugh, who is diagnosed with cancer. Kegan鈥檚 work often explores how relationships to our bodies can reveal something deeper about who we are as a society and individuals, situating the body within a larger political, cultural, or social context. In the 2009 short film Team Taliban, he explored post-9/11 politics through professional wrestling and his 2020 documentary Expiration Term of Service centered on the labor tensions of aging soldiers caught in military bureaucracy.  

鈥淪tylistically, we wanted the film to feel more like a narrative feature than a traditional talking-heads documentary,鈥� said Kegan, shining light on Webley鈥檚 cinematography on the project. 鈥淒rawing from works like Chlo茅 Zhao鈥檚 The Rider and Kon Ichikawa鈥檚 Tokyo Olympiad, we leaned into v茅rit茅 intimacy and a cinematic, subjective style to immerse the viewers in the rhythm, breath, and inner world of our subjects.鈥�

A Forbes review compared Seconds Away to the renowned 1994 documentary Hoop Dreams, noting that 鈥淜egan and Webley captured a slice of life in a way that is not often presented on screen for professional runners.鈥�

The Voyage Out,听directed by Barlow Jacobs, follows professional hunter Mark Warnke, survival expert Callie Russell, and 28-year-old tech entrepreneur Mansal Denton on an eventful eight-day bow-hunting trip in the Sawtooth Mountain Range in Idaho. Webley shot the film using Super 16mm film. Executive producers Ley Line Entertainment also produced Best Picture Winner Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Jacobs described the logistical challenges Webley and the rest of the crew faced during the shoot: 鈥淚 knew we were going to be deep in the mountains and fully off the grid for eight to 10 days, shooting on film, with a three-man crew: cinematographer, an assistant cameraman, and a sound guy. I knew the logistics of that were going to be a massive challenge. Marc told me we would be hiking five to eight miles per day at around 9,000-11,000 feet elevation. And we would be doing that with all of our film gear, off-trail, traversing a raw and brutal landscape. The temperature fluctuates from 11 degrees to 78 degrees on any given day. We were sleeping on the ground. I could go on and on.鈥�

Webley previously served as the cinematographer for the 2020 Peruvian comedy La Restauraci贸n by writer/director Alonso Llosa and as director/cinematographer for the 2022 short film Beef.

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Beaver Fever follows an idealistic young man protesting poor customer service, only to be confronted by an unscrupulous mascot focused only on sales.

During the free, three-week workshop, part of an exclusive partnership between Booker and 四虎影视, Kauffman and Phelan worked on their sound mix for the seven-minute film under the guidance of Film faculty and Studio Labs sound designer Nick Palladino, with Studio Labs sound designers Troy Logan and Riley Cullather.

鈥淭his was another case of Ringling鈥檚 passion for helping our students, leading to something greater than they could ever have imagined,鈥澨齭aid听Booker VPA film producer John Timpe. “Our students are well-prepared for the step into college thanks to the workshop.”

In addition to the summer workshop, the partnership between Booker and 四虎影视 also includes scholarship opportunities, the chance to sit in on Film Department Head Patrick Alexander鈥檚 classes, and opportunities to hear from notable guest speakers on campus.

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After the internship, Bennett granted Callins permission to use his music in his Ringling Thesis Film, Contagious Swagger. That collaboration would become a pivotal moment for Callins, leading to a full-time position on Bennett鈥檚 team after graduation. As a content creator, he began developing new concepts for music videos, skits, and promotional materials. Efforts that not only elevated Bennett鈥檚 projects but also deepened Callins鈥檚 ties with the Bennett family.

The Ringling grad took his work with Chance the Rapper a few steps further, joining his creative team as a content creator. Callins now travels across the country capturing behind-the-scenes footage, music videos, and tour content at major venues and events鈥攊ncluding Chicago鈥檚 music festival Lollapalooza.

鈥淓very day there鈥檚 something new to work on when you鈥檙e working with a celebrity like Chance,鈥� Callins said.

As Callins explained, both Taylor and Chance are independent artists, which allows their team the freedom to stay authentic and innovative without the pressures or constraints of a major record label.

Callins鈥檚 first official assignment for Chance was filming his July 2025 performance at a Chicago Fire soccer game, followed by the rapper鈥檚 surprise set at Lollapalooza.

Since joining the team, Callins continues to push himself creatively. 鈥淗onestly, I was comfortable just being a behind-the-scenes videographer and editor,鈥� he admitted. 鈥淲hen the RIDE music video was being created, they asked if I could operate a camera, which I had little to no experience with. I wanted to say no. I didn鈥檛 think I was ready. But I trusted myself and the team, strapped myself in the seat, and made the magic work.鈥�

Chance plans to release several new music videos this year, including one filmed by Callins during the And We Back Tour this fall. For that project, Callins will be credited as camera operator, editor, and producer鈥攁 full-circle achievement for the Ringling Film graduate.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not always about the equipment you鈥檙e shooting with,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about the story you tell.鈥�

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The Hollywood Reporter annually ranks film programs in the United States based on how well they prepare students for a future in the industry. The College has been consistently lauded for giving its Film students extensive hands-on experience while immersed in a world-class art school community. The publication has also praised the program鈥檚 high-tech facilities centered on the 四虎影视 Studio Labs, which is the first commercial and academic film and post-production facility of its kind in the state of Florida.

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The day marked the last of a six-week project for Studio Labs sound designer and coordinator Troy Logan 鈥�22, Film. The group, joined by Riley Cullather 鈥�26, Film, who supported Logan on the project, met in the Studio Labs鈥� Dolby Atmos theater to give the mix a final pass鈥攑unching out any wishlist items, fixing tech issues, and addressing the directors鈥� notes before delivering them a final product at the end of the day.

Jit follows Alex, a wannabe thug, and his older brother Dillon, freshly released from a brief jail sentence. After a night of partying at their local trap house, Dillon mysteriously disappears. Alex begins to investigate, trekking across a strange and hostile Floridian environment and encountering esoteric characters. Once Alex gets a new job at the strange retirement trailer park community called Friendship Terrace, the pieces begin to fall into place.

In March, Logan began cleaning up the dialog, balancing the music, and roughing in automation. He shared that working on this project required working in a narrative world of dissonance. 鈥淭hugs, house parties, lizard people, government surveillance鈥攁ll of these elements inspired a mix that could be described as cacophony, in a good way!鈥�

Towards the end of the project, Logan enlisted the help of current Film student Cullather to help record and piece in any missing foley, sound effects, or sweeteners. 

鈥淕etting to be one of the final hands to touch a project that was only words on a stack of papers when I was a student here feels like an incredible full-circle moment,鈥� Logan said. 鈥淚 got to see my peers after quite some years and witness the growth they had undergone as filmmakers and creatives.鈥�

span the length of a city block and house five professional, acoustically isolated soundstages and 5,000 square feet of post-production space. Students from every major have the opportunity to utilize Studio Labs. Through community outreach programs, local high school students also have the opportunity to attend week-long workshops at Studio Labs and learn new skills.

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