Gender identity, fashion, tumultuous relationships and immigration were all themes of films presented at a New School event called Ruff Cuts on Oct. 25 at 6 p.m in The New School’s University Center.  

Students, faculty and alumni immersed in the university’s film community gathered in the ULEC Room 105 to share work and offer feedback to fellow filmmakers and creatives. This marked the second event in a series of three separate screenings that take place throughout the semester.

The screening consisted of six films made by six different members of The New School community. The films featured in order of appearance were “FALL” by Ian Ruas, “Something Found” by Casey O’Connell, “Stepping Out” by Ihunmehai Isaac, “Remembering Bruce” by Isaías Morales C., “Deep in the Sea” by Nikita Khripach, and “Body Continuum” by Yanran Xiong. All of the video lengths spanned in the range of two to nine minutes long.

The work itself ranged from a plethora of different subject matter and forms of video. “Body Continuum,” an abstract, experimental film featured multiple different voices about their gender identity and its relevance to fashion. Each voice came from what looked like the shape of a body against a black screen — however, all you could see was the outfit each speaker was wearing. Another film, “Stepping Out,” a short story about an immigrant woman in an abusive relationship with her partner, showed the hardships of being an immigrant and holding the pressure of supporting a family back home.

After each piece of work was shown, the filmmaker stood at  the front of the room and listened to the audience’s critiques and answered questions. Observers gave their thoughts on the positive aspects regarding each film and offered advice as to possible improvements. 

The inclusive and open environment of Ruff Cuts encouraged New School filmmakers to bond and learn from one another. From conversations about each other’s work to making films in general, there was a strong sense of community amongst those in attendance.  Everyone expressed interest in the progress of one another’s work.

This is another benefit of Ruff Cuts — it gives filmmakers the opportunity to not only showcase their work and receive critiques, but to open their work up to potential collaborations. 

The three students who currently lead Ruff Cuts agree that one thing they get out of the event is a sense of community. As students pursuing their master’s degrees, they shared that it can be difficult to meet people, and that they appreciate how film brings them together. “I know most of my film friends from Ruff Cuts,” said Feilin Gao, a first-year MS student in the Media Management program, and one of the three graduate students behind Ruff Cuts.

In addition to Gao, there are two other graduate students that make up the Ruff Cuts team: Marcos Echeverria Ortiz and Alicia Bertomeu Sanchez, both of whom are second-years in the MA Media Studies program.

The program has been running for about five or six years, and was created with the goal of giving students a place to present raw, unedited work in a supportive environment, according to Echeverria Ortiz. “Ruff Cuts was founded by a group of students,” Echeverria Ortiz said. “They decided to come together and tokenize a place that is safe for people to present their work without judgement.”

Echeverria Ortiz shared that one of the students who founded Ruff Cuts, Jun Oshima, is now a faculty member at The New School. Oshima currently teaches within the Media Studies graduate program at The Schools of Public Engagement.

The group’s main objective is to allow members of The New School community to take the comments and questions they receive at the event and use them to improve upon their work. “It’s a really safe environment in which you can present something and receive really good feedback,” Echeverria Ortiz said.

Most of the time, Echeverria Ortiz said that the Ruff Cuts team typically receives music videos and short narrative submissions, but they are open to all kinds of work.

There are no specific length requirements for the videos, however, Echeverria Ortiz shared that shorter videos typically make for more balanced sessions and equal opportunities for all to share. “We want to show small videos, like five minutes long, so everything flows — the conversation, time, and dynamics,” Echeverria Ortiz said.

To submit work to be shown at the next Ruff Cuts event, email ruffcutsrsvp@gmail.com for more information.