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.

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.

November 14

The Seaside Repertory Theatre will host the screening of a special feature film, a 2009 Academy
Award and Golden Globe nominee that is receiving remarkable critical acclaim during its current national theatrical release. Based on a true story, this intriguing film is about murderous evil that is
also human and comprehensible. The film stars some of Europe’s finest actors, who provide a peek into the horrors of vanity and self-delusion.

Paul Cohen will moderate a discussion and Q&A session after the screening.

ADMISSION IS FREE but seating is limited, on a first-come-first-serve basis. Tickets are required and must be picked up in advance from the Seaside Repertory Theatre. They will be available beginning Saturday, October 31st, from 4:00pm – 6:00pm, and again on Wednesday, November 4th, from 6:30 – 7:30pm. For ticket information, visit www.seasiderep.org, or call the box office at 850-231-0733.

November 21

Torchlight will present a nationally recognized film that is making international news. It is a chilling
story of filmmakers who take great risks to capture visual collateral that reveals to its audience undeniable truths about previously denied events.The filmmakers and distributors of the film are allowing Florida State University’s Torchlight Program to screen this remarkable feature in the 30-A area to a limited audience during its current theatrical release.

ADMISSION IS FREE but seating is limited, on a first-come-first-serve basis. Tickets are required and must be picked up in advance from the Seaside Repertory Theatre. They will be available beginning Saturday, October 31st, from 4:00pm – 6:00pm, and again on Wednesday, November 4th, from 6:30 – 7:30pm. For ticket information, visit www.seasiderep.org, or call the box office at 850-231-0733.

December 5

The WaterColor Boat House will host Torchlight's "Emerging Filmmakers" program, presented by Paul Cohen, Director of the Torchlight Program. The audience will experience three short films created by new writers and directors whose work is regarded as exceptional by film industry professionals. A reception will follow.

Valerie Scoon, former Director of Development for Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Pictures, whose credits include The Great Debaters and Beloved, will moderate a discussion with the filmmakers after the screening. Ms. Scoon mentored all three filmmakers through the creative development process of their films.

ADMISSION IS FREE