The St. Stephen’s community celebrates the creative work of more than 50 students who played a role in writing, producing, editing and starring in 24 individual films.

A lively audience of students, friends, family, alumni, faculty and staff packed into the Helm Fine Arts Center recently for the highly anticipated Spartan Film Festival. The annual screening, led by Film instructor Mike Dolan, celebrates the creative and technical talent of Upper School students who have improved their video storytelling skills through Introduction to Film, Intermediate Film and Advanced Film classes.

Over the course of an hour and 45 minutes, the community enjoyed 24 back-to-back films. From comedy to more serious dramas, the shorts were filmed all over Austin and featured everything from goats to shadow puppets to boxing matches and western shootouts.

Advanced and Independent Study film students Ella Stewart ’26 and Andrew Matzen ’26 co-directed their own version of “Squid Game,” inspired by the popular Netflix survival thriller series. In the St. Stephen’s adaptation, a group of students and one teacher (Mr. Dolan) must complete a mysterious series of high-stakes service hour challenges to graduate, instead of competing for a cash prize like the original show. 

“It’s ‘Squid Game’ meets private school chaos,” said Stewart. “We centered our version around the desperation that many students feel when faced with the consequences of their year-long procrastination around completing their service hours.”

Stewart says the 20-minute film, which was split into two episodes, is her longest and most complex video project to date. The cast features over 14 people, plus a few more extras who served as guards. Stewart says she and Matzen have been working on the film since the fall term, and devoted countless hours outside of class writing the script, filming and editing. The process has taught them many valuable lessons in collaboration.

“Working with another director can be difficult when we're on set, but it's taught us to compromise and, sometimes, put our pride aside for the sake of the film,” said Stewart. “We want it to be the best that it can be!”

Stewart says all of the hard work has been worth it. She credits Mr. Dolan’s teaching style and expertise and says his film classes are the best part of her days.

“[He] is a supportive teacher who pushes us to be our best and refuses to let us settle for mediocre work,” said Stewart. “He also spends time just getting to know us. His care for the students goes far beyond the classroom; it’s evident that he wants to help us in every way he can.”

Charged with growing the film festival for 17 years, Dolan says he never gets tired of having a front row seat to watching his students grow. From the moment they first step into his classroom, they hit the ground running learning various writing, shooting and editing techniques that they will continue to build upon. It all comes together on screen at the end-of-year festival.

“It’s a unique and really valuable experience on all sorts of levels,” said Dolan. “There’s just nothing like working on a film for a long time and then having it shown in front of a pretty large, raucous audience with a really good setup,” said Dolan. 

The professional projector and state-of-the-art sound in the beautiful Temple Family Theatre bring the films to life in a way the students never imagined. Dolan says the high-tech screening teaches students a lot about the equipment and storytelling methods they chose to use, and how that translates to the final product. 

Even though the festival marks the end of a lengthy project, for Spartans in front of and behind the camera — it’s just the beginning.

“Nothing teaches younger kids as well as having really good filmmakers in the school, making excellent films,” said Dolan. “They go to the film festival and they think, ‘whoa, ok, now I realize what could actually happen."

Learn more about the St. Stephen’s Film Program