"Hey Jet, do you want to run a student-run film festival?"

The Kickoff Film Showcase all started with a summer phone call from Maddox Stockton, who said he wanted to create an outlet for film students and wanted Jet Sullivan to be a part of it. The two Radio-Television-Film juniors were eager to create a student-run, student-featured film festival with no fees or barriers standing in the way. The Kickoff is entirely free and open to all UT students. 

“After my freshman year, I kind of realized that there was no place for the whole RTF community to come together for one night because it’s always so split up by [student] org. or club,” Stockton said.

The two decided to dive in headfirst, but they said the size of the screenings exceeded their expectations. 

“The whole thing was flooded,” Sullivan said. “We were shocked at how many people showed up.” After people filled the showcase seats in the fall of 2024, the two made the showcase a semesterly tradition. The showcase this fall landed right before Halloween, on Oct. 29, with promises of the same playful energy from the hosts. 

“We described it as almost like a circus,” Sullivan said. 

If you’ve ever attended The Kickoff Showcase, you know the energy bouncing off its organizers is half the fun. The screening is an event, and the two are definitely a dynamic duo. Stockton described himself as more reserved, while Sullivan brings out the playful, high-energy presence that keeps their audience engaged.

Screening Process

Unlike most film festivals on campus, the screening process does not rely on formal submissions, but rather on a mutual reaching out between the hosts and people interested. There are no specific rules or forums to enter your film or account to run a promotion. Students individually reach out to the two about having their film featured, and if they feel it’s a good f it, it’s in. The organizers encourage students to kind of just go for it, creating less of a boundary to entry. 

The process is selective, however, in that Stockton and Sullivan really want to prioritize variety during the show. Typically, 12 films to a showcase, this semester’s was only six. This isn’t a way to gatekeep; it helps the organizers to focus on crafting screenings that create a cohesive story with a beginning, middle and end.

“We see a lot of freshmen, too,” Stockton said, “which is always really exciting because it inspires them to make something."

Maddox emphasized that although they are f ilmmakers first, the two loved the idea of dipping their feet in event coordinating. The two collaborate with a campus organization to sponsor the event and schedule a room to host it in. This semester was The New Project, a multimedia collective at UT. Sullivan also credited his volunteer experience at the Austin Film Festival, which he described as a great way to learn how to troubleshoot. 

The Kickoff doesn’t come without its challenges. Maddox and Sullivan are always striving to improve the showcase every semester. This semester, the two wanted to make things run a little more smoothly and efficiently by cutting down the length of the screening. With each new Kickoff, Sullivan and Stockton make intentional changes that create a platform for RTF students to share their creativity with the rest of their school. 

“We just wanted to create an environment that fosters this connection and communication between the Moody College community,” Sullivan said.

Kickoff Film Screening

On Wednesday, Oct. 29, students filled the seats dressed in costume, ready for a night of film in Burdine Hall. The event began at 9:30 pm, and went well into the night with the crowd engaged the entire time. Six films were featured, ranging from music videos to short films to TV-style episodes. 

“A lot of student films live on hard drives at home,” said Noah Brummett, a radio-television-film senior and director of You’re a Bad Person. “It’s really hard to get people you don’t know in a room together to watch your work.”

In between each screening, the hosts took a pause to crack a couple of jokes and allow each director to come up and say a few words about their projects. The atmosphere stayed lighthearted, but the pride in each filmmaker's work was clear.

Applause followed each film, with friends and strangers alike roaring for their peers’ work as the credits rolled.

“An opportunity like this matters because I don’t know a lot of these people, and now they’re seeing something I’ve made,” Brummett said.

For many, after months and years of shooting, Stockton and Maddox offer a rare opportunity for anyone working on a film at UT to share their work with a welcoming audience. The two look into the future with ideas of growing the showcase into a possible full-blown film festival to bring the broader Austin film community together, which is their entire goal.