As the sun set over Scottsdale Community College’s Two Waters Circle on Wednesday evening, students and guests gathered on blankets and lawn chairs beneath the fading desert sky for “Film FSH,” a student-led motion picture showcase featuring short films from 12 Scottsdale School of Film & Theatre filmmakers.
The outdoor event transformed the campus lawn into an immersive film space complete with projected visuals, ocean sounds, hanging lights, screen-printed showcase T-shirts made in real time, themed set pieces, and a large outdoor screen framed by palm trees and sunset colors.
The showcase was organized by Film Club president Malachi Johnson, who stepped away from his role as student body president to focus on building the event.
“I wanted to highlight the film school department,” Johnson told Northeast Valley News before the screening.
“If the magic is happening here and it’s stemming from here, I would like to invite people here to see where it’s coming from.”
The program featured a mix of horror, documentary, experimental, and narrative films ranging from three-minute shorts to longer capstone productions.
One recurring theme throughout the evening was the event’s playful “fish” motif — a nod to the showcase’s title, “FSH.”
Posters, fishing nets, surfboards, ropes, and even ambient harbor bell sounds were incorporated throughout the venue.
Between screenings, short promotional videos created by students played on the main screen. One commercial for the night’s showcase, written and directed by Johnson, featured him and other students aboard a boat attempting to fish with a reel of film instead of fishing line.
Among the evening’s standout films was “What We Carry,” a six-minute documentary by student filmmaker Roman Treppa centered on Phoenix’s Station 42 firefighters.
The film combined emotional interviews about the mental and physical health toll of emergency responders and cinéma vérité footage captured inside the station. “We filmed 12 hours a day for three days,” Treppa said after the screening. “I wanted us to feel like we were in their space.”
The documentary’s emotional ending drew a strong audience reaction during the showcase.
Johnson, originally from New York, said he came to Arizona in 2020 for “a reset” before discovering filmmaking as his primary creative focus. Though he did not include one of his own narrative films in the lineup he described the event itself as his contribution.
“I’m premiering the premieres,” Johnson said. “So, my premiere is this. This is my kind of film.” Johnson hopes the showcase becomes an annual tradition that continues spotlighting Scottsdale’s student filmmakers and building community around the school’s growing film program.
