"Student Film: The Movie"

Student Film: The Movie pairs Clemson University World Cinema students with familiar faces from TV and film in an innovative experiential learning course exclusive to Clemson's World Cinema program. 

In June 2025, Clemson students gained experience both on and off-screen with professional filmmakers during a hands-on training course that included the micro-budget production of Clemson's first feature film, Student Film: The Movie.

The movie is the centerpiece of a World Cinema film production course made possible by a grant from the South Carolina Film Commission. The course offers Clemson students professional-grade hands-on experience in filmmaking, designed to prepare them for careers in the film, TV, and digital media industries.

Led by two-time Emmy Award-nominated producer and Professor of Practice Sam Sokolow (National Geographic & Disney+’s Genius), the production course teamed students on both sides of the camera with talent from recognizable titles including Forest Gump, Modern Family, The Hunger Games, and more.

Student Film: The Movie is based on a screenplay written by Gaffney, SC native Julia Fowler (Netflix’s Country Comfort, YouTube’s Southern Women Channel), who also directed the film and trained the student-actors for production. 

Students took on key creative and technical roles, working alongside a distinguished cast and crew of education consultants to bring the project to life. An accomplished crew of professional educators led by Sokolow and Fowler also included BrandCinema’s Nicholas Levis (High Strung), Geoff Herbert (The Irishman, The Hunger Games), Mark Cochran (Cross Wars) Andrea Brotherton (The Six Triple Eight, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire), and Quintessence Patterson (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, Furious 7). Their expertise provided students with professional-level mentorship and insight into the professional filmmaking process.

The on-camera cast that mentored Clemson’s student actors while working side-by-side with them, includes Finesse Mitchell (Saturday Night Live, Ant Farm), Tim Stoltenberg (Failure to Launch), Brett Rice (Forrest Gump, Remember the Titans), Julia Fowler (Modern Family, The Closer), Matthew Settle (Band of Brothers, Gossip Girl), Jayson Warner Smith (The Walking Dead), Alex Ellis (Hot In Cleveland), Katherine Bailess (One Tree Hill, Hit the Floor), and Delaine Yates (Law & Order).

The project underscores Clemson University’s commitment to building a world-class film program.

Student Film: The Movie has an on-camera cast that includes 18 Clemson University students acting in their first feature film, who worked side-by-side with a professional cast of actors who mentored them, including:

• Finesse Mitchell (Saturday Night Live, Ant Farm)

• Tim Stoltenberg (Failure to Launch)

• Brett Rice (Forrest Gump, Remember the Titans)

• Julia Fowler (Modern Family, The Closer)

• Jayson Warner Smith (Murdaugh: Death In The Family)

• Matthew Settle (Band of Brothers, Gossip Girl)

• Alex Ellis (Hot In Cleveland)

• Katherine Bailess (One Tree Hill, Hit the Floor)

• Delaine Yates (Law & Order).

Student Film: The Movie has a behind-the-camera crew that includes 20 Clemson students working shoulder-to-shoulder with an accomplished crew of professional educators, including: 

• Clemson World Cinema Professor of Practice Sam Sokolow (Genius)

• Writer/director Julia Fowler (Country Comfort)

• Producer Nicholas Levis (High Strung)

• Gaffer Geoff Herbert (The Irishman, The Hunger Games)

• Sound engineer Mark Cochran (Cross Wars)

• Hair designer Andrea Brotherton (The Six Triple Eight, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire)

• Makeup artist Quintessence Patterson (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, Furious 7)