Student film premieres at LSSU

NEWS RELEASE

LAKE SUPERIOR
STATE UNIVERSITY

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Student film produced as senior project will premiere April 13-15

SAULT STE. MARIE, MI - LSSU fine arts student Eric Cairns will be premiering his student film Violet in room 215 of the LSSU Arts Center at 3 p.m., April 13-14, and 7 p.m. on April 15.

The film, Cairns' senior project, tells the story of an 18-year-old girl from Chicago who is on the verge of winning a scholarship to go to medical school.

Violet's plans are interrupted when her mother decides that they will be moving from Chicago to a small Michigan town called Northport.

As a result, Violet must overcome many obstacles to ultimately rediscover herself.

"This is the exciting part for me," Cairns, of Traverse City, said in regard to seeing months of his and his cast's hard work come together.

When asked about what the audience should expect, Cairns said: "I think what people should understand is that this is a student film. It's a fantastic film, but you shouldn't expect to see something that a Hollywood budget has…They should go in expecting it to be a student film, but they shouldn’t let that hold them back."

Cairns will be staying after each of the showings so the audience can give him some feedback and responses to his work.

After graduating, Cairns said he hopes to become a local filmmaker and strives to model himself after Rich Brauer, who has produced hundreds of award-winning commercial and educational projects through his Traverse City-based Brauer Productions.

As some final advice, Cairns suggested that audience members show up early, as the film is expected to draw a large crowd each day.

Cairns was assisted in managing many of the technical aspects of the film by LSSU fine arts alumna Ashley Traynor.

University students, community members, and high school students played extras for the film, and a mixture of LSSU students, alumni, and a friend of Cairns' make up the main cast, including:

• Emma Ringer, a forensic chemistry major from Kent City.
• Cindy Lowry, a mathematics-secondary education major from Daggett.
• Nick MacAskill, a conservation biology major from Fraser.
• Seth Witucki, a liberal studies major from Sault Ste. Marie.
• Steve Dishman, a fisheries and wildlife management major from Clinton Twp.
• Sarah Becks, an English/secondary teaching major from Sault Ste. Marie.
• Kristen Miller, a fine arts alumna from Ann Arbor.
• Kenneth Steele, a nursing major from Allendale.
• Rachel Branstrom, fine arts studies major from East Windsor, NJ.
• Matthew Bell, a friend of Cairns' from Chicago.

For more information on the film, contact professor Gary Balfantz at [email protected] or 906-635-2659.

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Pictured: LSSU alumna Ashley Traynor and senior fine arts student Eric Cairns, Traverse City, display some of the tools they used to produce Cairns' film, Violet.

The movie, put together for Cairns' senior project, will be shown on campus April 13-15.

The public is welcome.

Photo by John Shibley for LSSU

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