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There's been a lot of buzz going around the Film and Media Studies (FMS) department at the University of Kansas (KU) for two events: The Tensies and the Oldfather Film Festival. These events end each school year for us film students at KU. As a recent transfer to KU, I was excited to see what these two events were all about.
The Tensies
The first event, which took place on Thursday, May 8, was the Tensies. The Tensies are KU FMS's equivalent to the Oscars in that it is an awards show for student films created during of the past school year. The show is named for Hortense “Tensie” Casady Oldfather, who was a philanthropist who gave a lot to KU.
The show is run with the help of student volunteers who took photos, ran the electric equipment, and even hosted the show (this year's host, senior Ryan Campbell, was hilarious).
At the top of the show, the department thanked executive members of the two film related clubs at KU (Oldfather Productions and KU Screenwriters Guild) for their work to cultivate the film community and announced the exec members for the 2026-2027 school year (I was announced as Social Media Chair for the KU Screenwriters Guild).
Students are given awards in the typical Oscars style such as "Best Editing" and "Best Directing". They are also given awards for contributions to the department and scholarships. The final award of the night was given to the winner of the Mike and Lynette Screenwriting Contest. Nominees of the award spent the past year writing a screenplay which they pitched in the fall of 2025. The winner would receive a cash prize and the opportunity for industry professionals to read their completed screenplay.
Tensies Winners:
Best Animation Project: Other - Jacey Dinkel
Best Cinematography: Ghost is Not Scareing - Henry Keeler
Best Comedy: Late-Stage Rinkomania - Sean McGuire II
Best Director: Apostles - Caedmon Anderson and Jake Holzinger
Best Documentary: Potty Mouth - Madison Schulte
Best Drama: I Don't Feel Funny - Jack Newlin
Best Editing: The Muse - Sam Walker
Best Experimental Project: Tell Me I'm Pretty When I'm Hungry - Ella Rogers and Iris Miculek
Best Music Video: Until I Do - Colin Hohenbary
Best Screenplay: I Don't Feel Funny - Jack Newlin
Best Sound: Apostles - Jack Newlin and Triston Schelstrate
Best Visual Effects: "this is not the end" - Cole Martin
Best Body of Work: Emily Rupert
Best of Show: The Muse: Sam Walker
KU's film production club, Oldfather Productions, also received a $1300 grant to help support all of its efforts.
Speaking of Oldfather Productions...
The Oldfather Film Festival
The Oldfather Film Festival is run by KU's film production club, Oldfather Productions. Oldfather Productions was founded by Jillian Markaway and Allison Ruschill in January of 2023. Following the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, KU FMS was very quiet. Very few productions were happening and students were disconnected from each other.
Markaway and Ruschill saw this problem and started Oldfather to help cultivate a film community at KU. Over that year, the club created its first film Cheers and helped students get professional experience. On-set experience is always valuable.
"We're founded on the idea that student work should be celebrated." said Jack Newlin, senior and co-director of Oldfather Productions in the 2025-2026 school year.
In 2024, Ruschill founded the Oldfather Film Festival to give students a place to show their films. With help from some KU FMS professors, the first Oldfather Film Festival showed 12 films.
Over the next few years, Oldfather Productions has expanded exponentially. The first meeting had over 60 attendees. This year was its first year receiving funding from the Student Senate (which meant tickets were free for all students regardless of school) and the Club produced two films in 2026, It's Just Business (which I was the producer of) and Don't Drip. The 2025 festival saw around 150 attendees despite being on Mother's Day and had about 40 submissions.
Oldfather Film Festival Showings
The Muse written and directed by Sam Walker
Gifted, Empowered & Motivated directed by Joshua Elias Ashton
Mouse Trapped written and directed by Jonathan D. Miles
Don't Drip written by Ella Rogers and directed by Benjamín Velilla
Until I Do directed by Colin Hohenbary
I Don't Feel Funny written and directed by Jack Newlin
Second Chance Documentary directed by Sav Jarman
Can't Go On Missing You directed by Anna Strickland
Ichorus - Work in Progress written by Jae Gold and Eli Kumin and directed by Jae Gold
To See You directed by Alexis Wilmoth
It's Just Business written by Michael Kates II and directed by Alexia J Watson
Potty Mouth written and directed by Madison Schulte
Apostles written by Caedmon Anderson and directed by Caedmon Anderson and Jake Holzinger
There was a lot of variety; everything from documentary to comedy to drama. One film, The Muse was translated from French! Despite being a crew member on several of these films, I was still impressed by their quality. I'm happy to be going to this school and working with so many talented artists!
After all the films were shown, there was a panel with all the film's directors. The moderator, professor Jon Niccum, noticed that most of the films were connected by a single theme: grief. One of the directors responded that there is a certain beauty in turning pain into art.
The final act of the night was the symbolic passing of the torch from this year's co-directors, Jack Newlin and Sophie Sanders, to next year's director, Ian Kastner. While it's always sad to say goodbye to graduating seniors, I'm excited to see what next year's club meetings will bring!
Finally, I'd like to thank both KU FMS and Oldfather Productions for continuing to give students the opportunity to grow into filmmakers and friends. There aren't a whole lot of options for film schools in the midwest, let alone in Kansas, and both organizations have created welcoming environments which have cultivated flourishing film communities.
Rock Chalk, Filmmakers!
