When the San Diego City College Film Society opened for submissions for its inaugural Student Film Showcase, it had only two requirements: The film must be 15 minutes or less and made by a City College student.

The end result was a creative collection of unique short films spanning a variety of genres. 

Some students used the event as an outlet to display their humor. Such was the case with “Pasta the Clown,” made by a student known simply as Emilio, and the single-camera comedy-suspense film “Intruder” by Cameron King. 

Other filmmakers took on more serious subjects. Filmmaker Evan Apodaca’s submission, “How Far I Am,” is a social commentary on the changing attitudes across generations, assimilation, and understanding one’s culture and heritage as a person of mixed race. Apodaca does this by interviewing his own family and learning its history.

Club president Kimberly Valdez and vice president Chris Isidoro were encouraged by the student response to the showcase. 

“I did not expect so many people to be here,” Isidoro said about the crowd at Black Box Theater last Friday night.

Added Valdez: “We wanted to put something together for the school by the students. This was like our guinea pig so we hope to make it better and bigger.

“In the future we want to do more events like these, but also create a network for students … who are interested in having a career in filmmaking.”

The documentary, “Door of Hope,” by Lana Alatar was filmed at Friendship Park at the border fence between the United States and Mexico. It captures the few minutes families separated by time and the border were allowed to reunite when Border Patrol facilitated the opening of a small section of the fence. 

Isidoro had his film, “Death by Handgun,” featured in the showcase. 

“My professor, Cy Kuckenbaker, is like a mentor to me. He told me ‘work with what you have and what you’re interested in,’” said Isidoro.

Things fell into place after that. He enlisted the help of his cousins and their motorcycles, picked an area around South Bay to film and created a short crime movie without dialogue involving a mysterious document, cannabis, and murder.

“Death by Handgun” will soon make its rounds through film festivals. 

The society wants actors, directors, and others involved in the filmmaking process from all walks of life to be able to get involved and participate. 

Sonny is on Twitter @sonnywithanoh.