Students in the Bates course "Acting and Directing for the Camera" screen their class projects at 4 p.m. Friday, April 3, in Pettigrew Hall, Filene Room (Room 301), 305 College St.

This event is open to the public at no cost. For more information, please contact 207-786-8294.

The festival also includes senior-thesis films by Rachael Garbowski of Brussels, Wis., and Rufat Hasanov of Baku, Azerbaijan, as well as films produced in the "Digital Film Production" course.

That course and "Acting and Directing for the Camera" are taught by Professor of Theater Paul Kuritz, a member of Bates' theater faculty since 1978. Author of three well-received books on acting and theatrical history, he has studied filmmaking and film directing at the International Film and Digital Video Workshops in Rockport. In 2006, he produced a screen adaptation of A New Life, a short story by Mary Ward Brown.

Kuritz designed the course to introduce students to the particular challenges that film creates in acting and directing. The course introduces experienced stage actors and directors to topics such as staging for the camera, shot planning, rehearsing, directing actors, performing in a frame and basic editing.

Speaking of his involvement in film studies at Bates, Kuritz says, "More people watch films and make films than watch or make theater. More students are interested in film, in how to make films. "

At the film festival, students in "Acting and Directing for the Camera" will debut their films, which are adaptations of scenes from well-known motion pictures such as Armageddon, 28 Days Later, Juno, Bridget Jones' Diary and American Beauty.