In early August, the Notre Dame student film Relevé screened and garnered awards at two film festivals. The film was co-directed by FTT majors Jocelyn ‘Jo’ Connors ’28 (film concentration) and Charlotte Schaub ’28 (television concentration) with supervising faculty William Donaruma for the Intermediate Filmmaking course in the Spring 2026 semester.
- The film won the award for Best Sound Design in the Student Category at the 140 Arts Collaborative Student Film Festival.
- Charlotte Schaub ’28 and Lianna Joseph ’28 won the Yoshie Nakayama Composition Award for Best Original Composition for the film’s score, “Painted Gold,” at the Foxboro Short Film Festival.
- Jo Connors ’28 won an award from Women in Film and Video New England for Selected New England-based Female Filmmaker, presented at the Foxboro Short Film Festival.
The film was also a semifinalist for the Rhode Island International Film Festival. On October 25, it will be included in the exhibition "Les Femmes et les Corps" at Le Bonheur est dans l’instant gallery in Paris, France.
Relevé is based primarily around the visual metaphor of kintsugi—the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold—and the healing power of art in relation to trauma. Jo and Charlotte are incredibly grateful for those who stood by their side creating the film, particularly the aid of Professor William Donaruma, and all who supported them as they "picked up the pieces, filling their lives with gold."
The Department of Film, Television, and Theatre offers a sequence of film production courses that challenge students not only to master skills in screenwriting, directing, cinematography, and editing, but ultimately to craft compelling visual narratives. Learn more about film courses at Notre Dame on the FTT Courses page.