Missouri Western cinema program looks forward with local filmmakers

Mar. 12—Having survived several budget cuts in the past couple of years at Missouri Western State University, the school's cinema program is making the most of its second life.

Engaging with local creative people in the area, expanding its resources and focusing on visual effects is what assistant professor Thomas Brecheisen considers one of the most unique cinema programs in the country.

"This is not what you normally see in a cinema program," he said.

A collaboration between assistant professor Toby Lawrence and Brecheisen, they have found success in giving Missouri Western students the knowledge and creative freedom to set up and capture local live performances, engaging with prospective students and discovering new skills.

"(It's a) forward-leaning kind of process that we just happen to have naturally because that's where we are in the industry, where we need to kind of stay up with what we're doing," said Brecheisen.

Originally part of Missouri Western's former theatre, cinema and dance department, the cinema program was the only one to survive cuts made to Missouri Western's budget in 2020 by then-president Matthew Wilson.

"The one that is strong out of the (theatre, cinema and dance) is the cinema program, or at least, stronger than the others," Wilson said to the St. Joseph News-Press in 2020.

The cuts brought the staff of the program down from eight professors to two, Lawrence and Brecheisen, and left them hurting for their colleagues.

"It was a thick silver lining for us, but you throw in a lot of survivor's guilt into that. It's a complicated situation," Brecheisen said.

With that pain came reflection for the cinema program and what Brecheisen and Lawrence had envisioned for it since before they came to Missouri Western. As part of the university's School of Fine Arts, which also includes music and art, the cinema program has a more focused budget that's able to buy better equipment for its students and expand skill sets in fields like visual effects and editing.

To fulfill that mission, one of Brecheisen's biggest achievements has been the Griffon Production House, an applied learning initiative split into three parts that hones its students' skills on capturing live performances, featuring research projects going on at the college and working on editing with professional production studios.

During the height of the pandemic, Brecheisen said his students filmed several productions at Central High School so people who couldn't get out could still watch shows. They also worked with the St. Joseph Youth Corale to capture concerts.

"We've done every concert of theirs at the end of each semester and they use that to send off to competitions and things like that ... We're kind of ramping up that again," he said.

There are also several community-driven events and initiatives scheduled for this year, including moving the Griffon Film Festival to the Missouri Theater on April 22 to make it a city-wide celebration and engaging with local high schoolers through its "Future Filmmaker Festival."

Brecheisen said it's a bright future ahead for the cinema program. He hopes through collaborating with people and organizations in St. Joseph, they'll appreciate the work they're doing.

"I think we're on track. I think we're doing good. I think the big things that we wanted to do are done," he said. "It's pretty awesome and it's just growing. We're making it happen."

Andrew Gaug can be reached at andrew.gaug@newspressnow.com.

Follow him on Twitter: @NPNOWGaug