The Torchlight Program

The Torchlight Program is a non-degree granting academic program designed to enhance the education of film students by providing instruction in current and emerging business practices of the motion picture industry. Only students currently enrolled in Florida State University are qualified to participate in the program. The program offers coursework in a variety of areas, including film financing, distribution and marketing, and then seeks to provide students with relevant internship opportunities to gain hands-on experience in these areas.

The Torchlight Center

Goals of the Torchlight Program

• To educate film students in current and emerging business practices of the motion picture industry
• To create strategic local, state and national educational partnerships with industry
• To create effective incentives and opportunities for Film School faculty to produce their creative work in Tallahassee
• To provide motion picture business leadership in the State of Florida
• To create a culture of cinema appreciation through community interaction in the State of Florida

Students may enroll in internships arranged by the program with various film industry members and organizations, including the Film School’s nationally recognized faculty, who bring their creative work to the program in support of its stated goals.

Industry veteran Paul Cohen serves as director of the program, which is located at the Torchlight Center in the studio facilities at Critchfield Hall. The facility includes production offices, conference rooms, post facilities, and a sound stage.

Creating a Culture of Cinema Appreciation

Gilmore, Patterson and Cohen discuss industry trends

Geoffrey Gilmore, Film School distinguished lecturer, a leading authority on independent cinema and director of the Sundance Film Festival for 19 years, screened 500 Days of Summer at FSU's arts festival Seven Days of Opening Nights. He also held a lecture and discussion centered on the current state of the movie business, and the difficulties and opportunities it presents. Screenings like this are part of the mission of the Torchlight Program.

The full story is here.

Current Torchlight Program Filmography

Florida State University Torchlight students have had the opportunity to present, market, publicize, promote and otherwise theatrically distribute a stunning array of independent motion pictures in a variety of markets throughout the United States and Canada. Here is a sample of the films they have worked with. For a complete list, click here.

THE COVE

Directed by Louie Psihoyos

“When the director Louie Psihoyos slipped into the little coastal town of Taiji, Japan, it was under cover of documenting the degradation of ocean reefs. Once there, however, he proceeded to mount one of the most audacious and perilous operations in the history of the conservation movement. The Cove is much more than just a record of that adventure. Like the director’s cover story, the movie is a Trojan horse: an exceptionally well-made documentary that unfolds like a spy thriller, complete with bugged hotel rooms, clandestine derring-do and mysterious men in gray flannel suits.”

The New York Times, "The Cove: From Flipper’s Trainer to Dolphin Defender," by Jeannette Catsoulis. Published July 31, 2009.

THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX

Directed by Uli Edel

Starring Moritz Bleibtreu, Martina Gedeck, Johanna Wokalek, Bruno Ganz

Germany in the 1970s: Murderous bomb attacks; the threat of terrorism and the fear of the enemy from the inside are rocking the very foundations of the still fragile German democracy.

The radicalized children of the Nazi generation, led by Andreas Baader (Moritz Bleibtreu), Ulrike Meinhof (Martina Gedeck) and Gudrun Ensslin (Johanna Wokalek) are fighting a violent war against what they perceive to be the new face of fascism: American imperialism supported by the German establishment, many of whom have a Nazi past. Their aim is to create a more human society, but by employing inhuman means they not only spread terror and bloodshed, they also lose their own humanity.

The man who understands them is also their hunter: the head of the German police force, Horst Herold (Bruno Ganz). And while he succeeds in his relentless pursuit of the young terrorists, he knows he’s only dealing with the tip of the iceberg.

VALENTINO: THE LAST EMPEROR

Directed by Matt Tyrnauer

Starring Valentino Garavani

Short, majestically coiffed, with hooded eyes, an orange-tinted visage and the peevish impatience of an absolute monarch: that is Valentino Garavani, the Italian couturier known simply as Valentino, as he appears in Matt Tyrnauer’s documentary portrait, Valentino: The Last Emperor.

In 1959, Valentino opened his own house of fashion in Rome, and he soon became one of the leading lights in European design, known for his trademark share of red and his clean, impeccable lines. With Giancarlo Giammetti, who has been Valentino’s business partner and significant other since 1960, the designer built an empire that remained one of the most prestigious in the fashion world, until Valentino announced his retirement in the fall of 2007.

Granted unprecedented access to Valentino’s home and office, the film offers an exclusive view of the level of his artistic visions and its impact on the dynamic world of haute couture fashion, as well as a privileged look at Valentino’s lavish lifestyle and relationship with Giametti. Shown in film festivals around the world to wide acclaim, Valentino: The Last Emperor is a feature film that has captured the hearts and imaginations of audiences.

JCVD

Directed by Mabrouk El Mechri

Starring Jean-Claude Van Damme
 
When the life of Jean-Claude Van Damme collides with the reality of a hold-up in Brussels, Belgium, suddenly the huge movie star turns into an ordinary guy, filled with fears, contradictions and hopes. Van Damme is brought back to Brussels where cab drivers and video-store hounds still recognize him, but nothing else is going right. His agent is screwing him, a major court case has gone against him, he’s low on funds…and now, as he enters a bank to try to cash a check, he finds it’s been commandeered in a heist. The cops on the street figure Van Damme must have cracked and gone to the dark side, while the robbers are only too happy both to exploit his fame and taunt him for being unable to overcome their guns with his kickboxing. Even Van Damme’s mom believes he’s the perp, not the victim, of the hostage takeover.

How can he live up to the legend he has built? What can a film hero do when the gun pointed to his temple isn't loaded with blanks? JCVD finds himself at the turning point of his "hero" life. It’s hard to resist: here’s a battered superstar who has occupied so many fantasies, but it turns out that his fantasies are just like ours.

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work

Directed by Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg

In 1965, on the Tonight Show, Johnny Carson predicted Joan Rivers would be “a star”— and a star she became. Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work was nominated for Best Documentary by the National Board of Review and was featured at the Sundance, Tribeca, HotDocs, and Seattle International film festivals. The documentary delves into the tumultuous times of Joan’s past, what made her the starlet she is, and follows her into the daily life of a woman who certainly is a ‘piece of work’.

Joan Rivers knows comedy; she’s the hilarious stand-up comedian who’s not afraid of what people think. With the right balance of truth and risqué attributes, Joan even reveals an entire file system containing her infinite jokes! There are countless layers to this brilliant, witty, and charming woman that people have been unaware of—until now.

The audience gets to witness her tenacious work ethic first-hand and will find it both admirable and tireless since she’ll take any job. Even with her enormous work load she still finds time to be charitable and care deeply for her family. Ladies and gentlemen, you get it all in her documentary. She’s brutally honest with the public, considering herself no exception. All joking aside, it’s extremely refreshing to see who Joan Rivers really is.

Looking For Eric

Directed by Ken Loach

Looking for Eric, an Official Selection of the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, centers around Eric Bishop who is stuck in a roundabout within his life. He’s got unappreciative stepsons, an unfulfilling job, and the regret of abandoning the love of his life. His regret becomes an affliction which plagues him to answer the age old question—fight or flight?

Eric decides to fight. The story is set in Manchester, England, and appeals to a palette of interests. It has soccer, a complicated love story, and a wide array of comedic elements. How will Eric cope with his issues? With a little help from his idol, Manchester United legend Eric Cantona, and a bus full of friends Eric proves that it is never too late to find yourself.

Best Supporting Actor in the 2009 British Independent Film Awards went to John Henshaw for his work in this Cannes Film Festival Favorite. From legendary director Ken Loach, known for Riff Raff and The Wind That Shakes the Barley, comes a new dark comedy that masterfully mixes the sentimentality of human emotions and succeeds in winning every heart in the audience.

Paper Man

Directed by Kieran Mulroney and Michele Mulroney

Imaginary friends exist to a child until they realize it’s time to grow up. Ryan Reynolds, known for his roles in Van Wilder, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and Adventureland, stars as “Captain Excellent” who is Richard’s (Jeff Daniels) imaginary friend and spends his time trying to guide Richard down the right path. Richard feels his wife, “the doctor” (Lisa Kudrow) is cold and emotionally detached. He wanted to have a child, yet those wishes were never realized. Slowly he begins to regard “his solitude as something sacred.”

Richard never listens, even when Captain Excellent warns him against hiring a lonely teenage girl named Abby (Emma Stone) to babysit. Abby also has an imaginary friend named Christopher (Kieran Culkin). Richard has no children, but he is still a child himself and therefore needs his own babysitter.

Despite the oddities of the situation, Richard and Abby become great friends and their friendship changes them both. They begin to discover that friendship is about reaching another person outside of yourself and taking joy in it. At one time Richard and Abby only wanted to be alone with their imaginary friends, but they come to realize that it is time to grow up and let go of them. By the end of the film the audience knows both characters will be forever changed by the beauties of their relationship.

Thespians

Directed by Warren Skeels

This feature-length documentary motion picture, “a festival darling”, tracks four Florida high school troupes; Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, Alexander Dreyfoos School of the Arts, Stanton College Prep, and Dr. Phillips High School, prepare for the largest high school theatre competition in the world. From memorizing lines to getting into the head of their characters these young actors and actresses are able to dazzle a crowd.

Through their performances, these remarkable teenagers learn life lessons such as disappointment, success, strategy, and the satisfied feeling one gets when they give one hundred-and-ten percent. Warren Skeels makes Thespians an impressive and outstanding directorial debut as he tracts the lives of these artists through the mirror of the camera lens.

Immerse yourself in this journey and watch how these young actors put in countless hours of preparation and turn coal into diamonds for a spectacular show and a behind the scenes look at what happens before the curtain comes up.

Fangoria® FrightFest™

You know that feeling when your hairs are standing on end, you are paralyzed, and asking yourself what could be hiding in the dark?

It’s one of the eight FANGORIA® FRIGHTFEST’s™ films: The Tomb, The Haunting, Fragile, Hunger, Dark House, Pig Hunt, Grimm Love, and Road Kill. Each film grazes on a sub-genre of horror, making sure that each audience members horror interests are satisfied.

The students of The Torchlight Program worked on this online campaign, promoting the trailers virally through Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and YouTube. Users viewed and rated the eight horror trailers. The film with the highest average rating won a limited theatrical release. Participants in the rating were entered into a giveaway contest to win a trip to Las Vegas on Halloween 2010 and a three year subscription to Fangoria® Magazine.

The thriller Dark House, directed by Darin Scott, won with the highest ratings and played theatrically on July 30th, 2010 in Dallas, TX; New York, NY; and San Francisco, CA. Dark House follows the tragic murder of seven children. Years later, an unknowing business man, Walston (Jeffrey Combs), fills the house with revolutionary haunted attractions. A group of college kids who work the attraction will never be the same after they discover the holograms come alive after hours.

Saint John of Las Vegas

Directed by Hue Rhodes

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Well, not necessarily all of the time. Golden Globe nominee Steve Buscemi stars as John, a compulsive gambler, who has had enough of rolling the dice in his life.

John decides to leave Las Vegas and live a normal life in Albuquerque at an auto insurance company. Things seem to be going well at his new job until he is sent on an investigation of a dubious car accident outside of Vegas. Together with Virgil (Romany Malco), John sets out on his road trip. Twice nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and MTV’s Best Breakthrough Performance for his role in The 40 Year Old Virgin as well as his skilled acting in Blades of Glory and The Love Guru, Romany Malco brings his acting expertise to the screen in Saint John of Las Vegas.

John is leery to be so close to what tempts him, but with the promise of a promotion in the midst, he can’t resist even though he strikes up a romance with his outlandish co-worker Jill (Sarah Silverman) before he leaves. The sassy, quick witted actress and comedian takes the stage and adds an interesting take to this dark comedy. While on his road trip to Vegas, John goes on a journey and learns that your problems won’t diminish if you run from them.

Torchlight Program Screening Series: 2009-2010 at Florida State University

After sold out screenings at the Toronto International Film Festival, Bright Star screened at The Florida State University just before it opens in theaters around the country. The free sneak preview came courtesy of the Film School’s Torchlight Program and its director, Paul Cohen.

Cohen, who attended the Toronto festival with three Florida State students, worked with Apparition, the film’s distribution company, to arrange the special screening. “I’m thrilled to bring Jane Campion’s film and the rare quality of her filmmaking to the university for students, colleagues and community members to see and discuss,” Cohen remarked.

Campion, whose screenwriting work on The Piano earned her an Oscar for Best Writing, penned the screenplay for Bright Star and directed the film. The story is about two young lovers, 24-year-old poet John Keats and his 18-year-old enchanting muse, Fanny Brawne, and what Campion describes as the “unstoppable momentum” of their intense love affair. Campion writes in letters posted on her website that their relationship is “a wave of romantic obsession that only deepens as their troubles mount.”

After the screening, Cohen hosted a discussion and Q&A session with American poet Barbara Hamby and scholar James O’Rourke, both from Florida State University’s English Department.

Torchlight Film Series – Cinema 30A

The Torchlight Film Series – Cinema 30A screens contemporary feature films in the 30A area, and brings in filmmakers and cinema experts to talk about film. Borrowing from the tradition of early film festivals, The Torchlight Film Series keeps the title of each film a secret until moments before it is screened, allowing audiences to directly experience new entries into the dialogue of contemporary independent cinema.