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Thursday, March 28, 2024

 Tivoli Silas spent an entire week in the Reitz Union basement this semester.

During that time, the 20-year-old UF English junior became well acquainted with the instructors, painters and clay pot makers who frequented the Arts and Crafts Center.

Similar to the students whirling around their potters’ wheels, Silas was also making art. Unlike those with red clay on their hands, she was handling a Canon XH-A1 camera.

Silas and a classmate have created a five-minute documentary on the center, which will be screened free for the public Thursday at The Wooly at 7 p.m.

“I’m really excited to be able to see it at a public screening,” Silas said. “It will feel very professional.”

Her film “Hidden in the Basement” will be shown with six other mini-documentaries.

All of the films were filmed and edited by students at UF over a period of five weeks. They are in Lauren DeFilippo’s English class dedicated to film and media.

“They go through all the steps an independent filmmaker would go through,” DeFilippo said. “That includes writing the treatment and pitching their ideas, all the way to editing and this final screening.”

She said traditionally, at the end of the semester, the films have always been played at the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art. This year, DeFilippo wanted to change venues.

“The Harn has always been good and supportive,” she said. “But this year, I chose The Wooly to help integrate the event into the larger UF and Gainesville communities. It seems more conducive to what we’re trying to do.”

Though a Gainesville native and graduate of UF, this is DeFilippo’s first semester teaching.

As a professor, she has enjoyed seeing her students’ films transform and develop conceptually.

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“The films are all very unique and interesting,” she said. “It’s been a great opportunity for them to learn from each others successes and failures.”

Although Silas has been a patron of the Reitz’s Arts and Crafts Center before, during filming she was surprised to find many non-students and professionals using the facility.

She said she feels strongly about making time for activities like arts and crafts and hopes to demonstrate this to viewers.

“Especially as college students, we’re always busy with exams and work,” Silas said. “Through my film, I want people to be reminded of the importance of leisure.”

[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 12/7/2014]

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