Faculty, staff, and students from the University of Michigan’s Department of Screen Arts and Cultures are well-represented at the Traverse City Film Festival, which continues through Sunday, July 31. Their participation marks the second year that U-M has fulfilled an educational partnership with the film festival.

Two instructors from the U-M department are teaching film classes at the festival. Experimental filmmaker and Senior Film Production Lecturer Robert Rayher will teach “Acting for the Camera” with actress Elizabeth Guest and Pamela Guest, a casting director and U-M graduate, on Friday, July 29 at 3 p.m. at Northwestern Michigan College’s Scholars Hall. And screenwriter, director, and U-M screenwriting teacher V. Prasad is teaching “The Craft of Screenwriting” on Sunday at 3 p.m. at Northwestern Michigan College’s Scholars Hall.

Two groups of U of M students showed their short films Thursday at the Traverse City Opera House. “Work/Study,” a short written by Ben Ellmann and directed by Joey Bergren, is about a college student who moonlights as a thief. “Shark Tank,” a short about a college swimmer who tries to save the family business, was written by Kelci Parker and directed by Barbara Twist.

Faculty and staff members Mary Lou Chlipala, Colin Gunckel, Phil Hallman, and Terri Sarris are serving as jurors — with plenty to watch over the six days. During the festival they are reviewing 80 feature-length films and 40 shorts.

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