After going on the Sundance and Slamdance Winter Term trip, senior Olivia Carmel was inspired to create an independent film week at DePauw.
Slamdance is an annual independent film festival in Utah that features films made with budgets under a million dollars.
"There's rawness and honesty to [independent films] that Hollywood films can't accomplish," Carmel said. "I knew that other people at DePauw would enjoy it."
Although other films will be shown on Friday and Sunday night, Thursday night's films included "Irene and Marie" by Alex Thompson '12 and "The Dirties" by Matt Johnson.
"Irene and Marie" is about two octogenarian Greek women and their friendship. Thompson says that the film is also about tradition.
"I really wanted to humanize a population that we normally don't talk about," Thompson said.
Freshman Grant Walters said that he was emotionally touched by Thompson's piece.
Johnson's film, which shows friendship in another light, is about the pervasiveness of being a celebrity. In his film, the main character, played by Johnson, pretends that he is in a movie, a status he uses to justify his actions.
"It's about friendship and how friendship changes under stress," Johnson said.
The film "The Dirties" touches on sensitive topics such as bullying.
"It was completely shocking," Walters said.
Both Thompson and Johnson were excited about the opportunity to come to DePauw: Thompson because it was a chance to return to campus, and Johnson because this was the first screening at a small liberal arts university.
"I've screened the movie at a lot of different universities," Johnson said. "This is the first small liberal arts college, and it was the one I was most excited about-more so than the film schools and bigger universities."
Johnson interest in film began with a Sony floppy disk camera that he used to shoot music videos with his friends to Busta Rhymes songs. Johnson hopes that his film will eventually inspire aspiring film makers, although he admits he does not if he has yet accomplished this.
Walters offered one piece of advice for those who unable to attend the showing: "Try to seek it out."