CHLOE KOWALYK HUNTER HALTERMAN
Managing Editor Special to The Leader
ALEX ERWIN HEATHER OCCHINO
Staff Writer Special to The Leader
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SUNY Fredonia got goopy last semester with alumni Jackson DiCarlo and Ben Anderson’s production, “The Cryptid Cast vs. The Goopy Ganker.”
DiCarlo and Anderson were seniors in the COMM-464: Fiction II video production class before graduating last May.
DiCarlo majored in communications: video production while Anderson double majored in communications: video production and audio/radio production. The duo was tasked with creating a short film as the capstone of their video degree. As close friends and roommates, the two co-directed the film.
In the summer of 2021, DiCarlo and Anderson started writing the script. The short film featured the hosts of a monster-themed college radio show who end up getting involved in an investigation of two of their classmates who went missing.
The short film is filled with mystery, entertainment and charismatic characters.
The movie was inspired by works such as “Goosebumps” and “Dracula.” Characters and plot lines were inspired by DiCarlo and Anderson’s own personal lives.
After DiCarlo, Anderson and their team of over 30 students involved in the production finished the final film last May, they decided to screen the film at the Dunkirk Cineplex. The film was so popular with students and community members that it actually outsold tickets to Marvel’s “Doctor Strange: The Multiverse of Madness,” which was screening next door.
However, the film’s success stretches far beyond Fredonia and Dunkirk.
In fact, “The Cryptid Cast vs. The Goopy Ganker” received international recognition in France at Cannes Film Festival, a prestigious film festival that features new movies, documentaries and similar works from around the world.
DiCarlo and Anderson’s Fiction II project was enough to wow judges, leading them to win Best Short Feature: Festival Directors Award. The Fiction II class was taught by associate professor and chair of the Communication Department, Roslin Smith.
After watching the students grow and hearing of their success, she said, “Over the summer, we heard that they had submitted it to Cannes Student Short Film Festival, and they won. They won best short film.”
“That’s phenomenal again, because it’s really hard to get anything screened, let alone something screened internationally and win an award. So that’s almost a double whammy,” Smith added.
“The Cryptid Cast vs. The Goopy Ganker” is one out of only six recipients awarded for the film and video narrative competition.
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DiCarlo emphasized how this award will help the cast and crew apply for and get accepted into future careers and programs. “All of us who worked on this project have that validation, that stamp of approval and professionalism that not only did we accomplish something, but we did it to the highest,” he said.
The short film remains something that DiCarlo looks fondly on.
“I am very proud of the film,” DiCarlo said. “I spent so much time agonizing over every single word on the page, moment on screen, frame and the edit, and it came out beautifully. … I will always scrutinize everything I do with utmost accuracy, but I am really proud of what everyone was able to accomplish.”
Not only did the film win an award at an international festival, the short film also won the Award of Excellence from the Broadcast Education Association.
“Winning that award was truly something amazing,” DiCarlo said. “I mean, when we were working on this project, we put everything we had into it.”
“The Cryptid Cast vs. The Goopy Ganker” cast and crew efforts didn’t go unnoticed by Smith either.
“[The project] was very ambitious, and it was extremely hard work for them. At one point, they never thought they were going to finish because of the deadlines. But they went above and beyond the call of duty,” Smith said.
The success of “The Cryptid Cast vs. The Goopy Ganker” continues to be celebrated by students, alumni, professors and the community.
To learn more, follow @cryptidcastfilm on Instagram.