Students showcase film projects at Insomnia Film Festival
Photo courtesy of Isabella Mendes/Pexels
The students who partook in the Insomnia Film Festival may not have had professional equipment, but they certainly had the spirit of professional film makers. They got the chance to bring their creative visions to life in movies that each showed the love of what they were trying to make.
On Apr. 23, Wadsworth Auditorium hosted the annual Geneseo Insomnia Film Festival (GIFF). Participating students, who organized themselves into teams, had 24 hours to write, shoot, edit, and post a three-minute video. Teams had to incorporate at least three elements from a list provided by GIFF staff and were evaluated on a subjective zero-to-five scale in the video’s overall cinematography, emotional impact, story, and the totality of the video. All submissions were then publicly screened at the GIFF awards ceremony, followed by the distribution of prizes to the winning teams. Team MTC4LYFE and their film Red Robin (Yum) (2026) won first place; Team ABMH and their film Unwanted Message (2026) won second place; and the Mudcats came in third with their film The Barn (2026).
The awards ceremony featured the participating teams, a panel of college faculty, staff serving as judges, and spectators who came to relish the moment. The environment was light-hearted, filled with laughter and smiles. Following the screening of the short films, two members of the Mudcats, sophomore accounting major Andy Krolczyk and freshman communications major Cy Greenblatt, shared their thoughts and experiences. “It sounded like a great idea, so we got two other friends to come with, and it was super fun even though it was something we’ve never done before,” Krolczyk stated. Greenblatt, who was the first to learn about the festival, was intrigued by the opportunity, adding, “I told my friends, and we thought it would be fun to do, and it really was.”
When asked about attending the festival and watching the films, both Krolczyk and Greenblatt were ecstatic to be there. “It was super fun, even though we never expected to win a prize, but we ended up coming in third place,” Krolczyk continued. For the Mudcats, whose members also included sophomore communications major Daniel Maurer and freshman dual finance and accounting major Jake Mylan, their prize included Geneseo merchandise, candy, and gift cards.
As the conversation continued, both Krolczyk and Greenblatt offered insight into their workflow and how they navigated the production process. For all participants, their journey began at a meeting a few weeks ago, when they were informed that they had 24 hours to make a short film. “Immediately after, we went to RJ and thought about how we were going to do this, what it was going to be about. We ended up settling on creating a horror movie since we thought that would be funny,” Krolczyk said.
The filming was conducted at the baseball house and took roughly three hours to complete. Despite having no filmmaking experience and limited time, the team improvised and had fun throughout the process. Greenblatt agreed and stated that “we were just having fun, it was actually kind of funny at some moments, even though we got confused at times.” After the footage was captured, editing was left to Maurer, whose familiarity with media enabled him to add special effects and a score that fit a horror-themed film. His diligence helped the Mudcats turn around this video in less than 24 hours.
Upon being asked to reflect on the experience, both Krolczyk and Greenblatt were happy with the outcome of their project and stated that they would participate again. Before our conversation finished, Greenblatt implored any interested students to participate next year: “I recommend it 100 percent. There were only four groups this time, and I think it would be so much more fun if there were more of us; it would certainly make things more competitive.”
For those interested in participating in next year’s GIFF, registration officially opens on Feb. 1, 2027. You do not need to be experienced or have your own equipment to participate. All students are welcome to express their talents, ideas, and thoughts.