Passion fuels the growing Film Program at Sacramento State

On the edge of Sacramento, inside of a borrowed suburban home, fourth-year film production major, director and writer Selayah Mazyck shot her senior film, “Nothing New Under the Sun.”

Inspired by Mazyck’s real-life trauma of nearly losing her brother to gun violence, the film flips the perspective; telling the story from the perspective of the sister, Jamie, played by Kennedy Williams, a fourth-year communication studies student. 

By choosing to have Jamie’s brother, Miles, a high school football player (Isaiah Mounger), pass away, the film focuses on the ripple effects that loss can have in the family and its inevitable reshaping on the household in both quiet and loud ways.

“I wrote [‘Nothing New Under the Sun’] from my perspective instead of his perspective. I wanted to have it like that because in the sheer moment from when my little brother got shot, I thought he was dead,” Mazyck said.”I did have trouble writing it as I felt really emotional, but when we did a table read, I appreciated the realness and the room felt it too.” 

The J Street Film Festival, held at the end of every semester, was on May 20. The festival is not only a showcase of the senior director’s features but also a celebration for all involved. 

Located at the Crest Theatre in downtown Sacramento, this year’s film festival spanned three hours and featured over ten student feature films; a record number for the ever-growing display of Sacramento’s flagship Film Program.

In observing Mazyck and her film crew in constant motion – huddling between takes, constantly adjusting lights, running in-between rooms to fetch props or tape up a broken picture frame – one thing was clear: the constant problems and improvisation on set reflects a filmmaker reality that students, like Mazyck said, find inconsistent and creatively stifling. 

Jude Michael, a fourth-year film production major on set to capture photos, had a different opinion when it came to needing more resources on set and in the classroom.

“What we really need is more resources in terms of actually helping students map out a project and getting it done,” Michael said.

Along with Michael, fellow Sac State Students did not hesitate in voicing their opinions on feeling creatively stifled and underserved by the Film Program’s curriculum structure and delivery. They said some classrooms provide little guidance in film conception, script writing, assembling a film crew together, using necessary software and resource management, among other aspects. 

Students also highlighted how classes can sometimes follow a lecture-first, show-later teaching style. For many, such as Williams, these lessons don’t translate when students are behind or in front of the camera.  

Lee Tarleton, a fourth-year film production major, and Brendan Nishio, a fifth-year film student crew member sound handler, alongside Williams were outspoken voices among the crew.

“[The professor] is only showing us videos, and then by the time things are done and you’re supposed to follow along and do the stuff, the class is over,” Tarleton said. 

“In my motion graphics class, we once had a three hour lecture and people had trouble understanding it. We tried emailing [the professor] and he said just watch the video again,” Nishio said.

Dan Janos, a professor in the Film Program for over a decade, revealed the faculty’s perspective on students feeling underserved by the program’s resources.

“I agree that faculty have a responsibility to prepare students for their production experience, but we also want students to do their due diligence by checking the gear and practicing with it before showing up on set,” Janos said. 

Faculty in the program are not given concrete numbers of the active program budget coming in or out, Janos said. Film professors are only allowed direct access into the Student Fee account. The Student Fee is an account that stores the class fee that film students are paying for courses such as the film production classes.  

“How much money coming from the [College of Arts and Letters] Dean’s office is not transparent. The budget should be transparent. It’s not like the information is invisible or not available,” Janos said. 

According to the Film Program’s website and its faculty directory, in the last five years, there have been three Department Chairs’ for the Communications Department and two Film Coordinators.

An Academic Program Review of the Communication Studies BA conducted in November of 2023, revealed that faculty in the film department did not receive timely or clear communication about funds and resource allocation. 

The reviewers in the report also highlighted that staff were juggling too high of a service load in their position: lecturing, curriculum refreshing, student advising and first-year and transfer orientation. 

 “Some faculty on the tenure track gently indicated that the high service expectations combined with a 4-4 teaching load made it tough to meet the rigorous standards for tenure and promotion at the university,” the report stated. 

Alongside vague fund allocation year after year, responsibilities are only growing for professors in the tenure or even part-time positions. This past 2026 spring semester, the Film Program had ten professors.

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Jacqueline Rodriguez, a fourth-year film production major, said she had a positive, but realistic view when asked if she would recommend the film major to students.

“I would recommend it in hopes that the program would gain financial support. Our classes are heavily limited and the program 100% needs more professors concentrating in film,” Rodriguez said. 

Third year film production major Luna Diaz Contreras spoke on the program’s constraints on student creation. 

Contreras highlighted that her best moments as a student in film are in classrooms that give full creativity agency in subject matter, style and length. However, Sac State’s film curriculum insistence on creating strictly short features can feel stifling to its creatives, she said.  

“The program shines best when people are allowed to take risks and do what they want with the structure of the class,” Contreras said. “Not when they’re being denied higher level equipment and placed in [class]rooms that take away from the learning experience.”