The Film and Production club will debut two new student films, “The Old World Yet” by senior Ty Ruddy and “Stain” by senior Charlie Cheng, this weekend. 

“I am confident enough to bet money with most people that they’ve seen nothing like this before,” said Cheng of his film. 

The club will show the films at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, March 27 and Saturday, March 28 in Plaster Auditorium. After the Friday showing, attendees can stay for a Q&A session. In addition to the new films, the club will screen a short film by senior Joshua Burnett, “Forced Perspective,” which came out last semester.

Cheng, the club’s president, said he shot his film in two days in China last summer. 

“It’s a super short film of about five minutes featuring only two main characters, myself and a 7-year-old whom I found from church,” Cheng said. “The film is about childhood trauma, but told in a visually artistic way.”

According to Cheng, the film has no dialogue, instead using visuals and music to tell a story.

“I essentially wrote it, filmed it, directed it, edited it, and now actually, as I’m talking right now, I’m writing music for it,” Cheng said.

Cheng said he is hopeful his audience will grasp his message. 

“It doesn’t put everything out there for the audience,” Cheng said. “They will have to watch it and interpret.”

Cheng said he decided to act in his own film, knowing it would be a challenge to juggle filming and directing at the same time.

“That was quite an experience, doing almost everything by myself, with some help from my cousin and a photographer that we found,” Cheng said. “This film involves calligraphy, which is an art form in China. 
But it’s hard to find an actor who knows calligraphy. I figured I’m tolerable for both calligraphy and acting.”

Ruddy’s film, “The Old World Yet,” in part retells Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Earth’s Holocaust.”

“This was one of Ty’s first scripts, maybe even his first short film script,” said senior Joseph Johnson, the vice president of the club. “So that was really fun for him.”

Johnson, who acted in the film alongside senior Peter Gilchrist, said the crew endured a difficult shoot to make the film happen. 

“We shot it right after a big snowfall, at Josh Burnett’s house on a quiet street, and it was super cold,” Johnson said. “Josh, who was helping with production, Charlie, and Ty all had to deal with that. Peter Gilchrist and I were constantly going back inside because it was so cold.”

Burnett, who produced the film, said the bonfire presented different filming challenges even though they paid off in some beautiful cinematic shots.

“Continuity was a beast,” Burnett said. “Trying to get the lighting right was a bit of a challenge.”

Johnson said he admired Ruddy’s success in filming a dialogue-rich script on a tight timeline.

“It’s a very mature and sad conversation between two brothers, and to go after that for your first film was pretty impressive, and Ty did that well,” Johnson said. “He was great with us, very easy to work with, and had a good direction in mind for it.”

Like the Hawthorne story, the film wrestles with the idea of forgetting and remembering, Johnson said. 

“You can destroy as many memories as you want,” Johnson said. “You can forget everything, but that’s not really how life works. You do need to remember stuff, and you’ve got to learn from that stuff.”

Johnson said that acting the script gave him a totally different experience of the story. 

“I got to read Ty’s script as an observer, seeing how it flowed,” Johnson said. “But then once you’re in it, and you’re actually having to say it, that’s a completely different thing. A writer versus an actor — they have completely different relationships with the story. And the writer can have a completely set idea of ‘This is how I hear it in my head. This is how I wrote it.’ Then the actor takes it and uses a different voice, different inflections, and so it can change it a lot.”

Burnett said he looks forward to showing “Forced Perspective,” a film he directed and debuted last semester starring Fiona Mulley ’25 and senior Rachel Dunphy. 

“It’s a psychological family drama,” Burnett said. “An aspiring artist is forced to choose between her dreams of art school and being there for a sister’s wedding.”

Johnson said he hopes students will take a break from the noise and bustle of campus to see the films.

“Come watch a passionate story written by a passionate student who wants to share a very cool and authentic story,” Johnson said. “You can go and enjoy something that’s actually physical, real media that someone you know pored over and made to entertain and be loved.”