In Hollywood, the red carpet is reserved for A-list celebrities and social media influencers — in Malibu, it belongs to Pepperdine students with stories to tell.
Presented by the Student Programming Board (the Board), Pepperdine’s 17th annual ReelStories Film Festival brought together student directors, writers and actors to showcase their work under this year’s theme, “A Night in Hollywood.” The event took place Feb. 6 at Lower Mullin Town Square, where hundreds of students walked the red carpet in formal attire and watched original films by Pepperdine students and recent alumni.
“The whole goal of this event is to bring light to the student filmmakers on campus and highlight all the students’ hard work,” said Brantley Holladay, senior and co-director of the event.
Founded in 2009 by a group of Pepperdine students, ReelStories gathers the Malibu community for a celebration of student filmmaking, according to the festival’s website. A selection committee chose nine films from a pool of submissions to compete for nine awards — a judging panel awarded eight of the nine prizes, with the audience voting on the final one.
Each year, the festival promotes student storytelling and has grown in attendance, Holladay said. This year’s “Hollywood” theme added a layer of sophistication and excitement to the event.
The Board selected the 2026 theme to reflect the lasting influence movies have had on audiences over time, Holladay said.
“We are so close to Hollywood here [in Malibu],” Holladay said. “I wanted to play on the timeless nature of it. Hollywood is classic — we have all grown up with it, and it has been part of our lives for years and years.”
Once the camera flashes faded and guests finished their appetizers, attendees split between Elkins Auditorium and Smothers Theatre to watch the films — just like a Hollywood premiere.
“A.K.A. ZUMA JAY”
Thomas Breslin, senior Screen Arts major, directed the first film up on the ‘silver screen,’ “A.K.A. ZUMA JAY,” an intimate documentary that captures the life of Jefferson Wagner (Zuma-Jay), a local Malibu surfer who runs a shop called “Zuma Jay’s.” In the documentary, Wagner cracks jokes while showing the audience around his surf shop — reflecting on his life spent surfing, performing stunts in movies and spending time with his daughter.
Breslin, who won the award for Best Director, said the film idea came from his previous connection with Wagner, a vocal advocate for Malibu wildfire safety. This cause resonated with Breslin because he comes from a family of New York City firefighters.
“He [Wagner] is a local legend,” Breslin said. “His story really speaks to Pepperdine students, to Malibu residents and just means a lot to this community.”
Breslin said Wagner became a mentor to him throughout the process.
“He cares so deeply about what’s important, and he is deeply involved in his community,” Breslin said. “That’s the takeaway for college students — going on a path of helping people, serving people, branching out and getting connected with what matters.”
“A.K.A. ZUMA JAY” won the award for Best Directing.
“Take Care”
James Davis, sophomore Screen Arts and Theatre major, directed a short film titled “Take Care” that showcases the aftermath of a brief failed romance from the perspective of an introspective young man. Through close-up shots, dark colors and low lighting, Davis and his crew capture the desperation the man feels and his struggle with whether he should forget or remember his lost lover.
Davis said “Take Care” is based on the epitome of situationships.
“I wanted to make a film that talks about real life struggles,” Davis said. “Not many people talk about how romantic journeys usually end with one of the people getting hurt. This story comes from a wallflower’s perspective, and it’s like we are reading his thoughts as he tries to convey the importance of that lost relationship.”
Davis wrote, edited, directed and composed the music for “Take Care.”
“The emotion I was trying to capture was yearning but with a sense of remembrance,” Davis said. “If your memories were like a camera reel, and you’re going through all the photos, that’s what I wanted to go for [with the music].”
“PIVOTING”
“PIVOTING” is a moving story about an ambitious young actress who lands her dream role and hopes to impress her new director — only to discover the industry may not be the place she belongs.
Theatre directing major Grace Sardar said although it was a long day of shooting, she loved working with director Isabelle Harris, a recent Pepperdine alumna (’25) with a degree in Theatre and Screen Arts.
Harris said she wanted the message of the movie to resonate with her viewers.
“Young audiences are frustrated right now with how movies tend to be unoriginal,” Harris said. “My movie conveys wanting to restore art in cinema for art’s sake — instead of for the sake of money making.”
“PIVOTING” won the award for Best Acting and Best Picture.
“PEACE AND QUIET”
Screen Arts majors Logan Bole and Andrew Braun co-directed the documentary, “PEACE AND QUIET.” The movie was told through the eyes of Patrick Fleenor, junior Economics and Political Science major, as he grapples with finding purpose in nature after growing up in a culture centered around politics.
Fleenor said it was a new experience to be the main focus on camera.
“They told my story and captured what I believe in,” Fleenor said.
Braun said Fleenor was not the team’s original subject and did not initially seem like the right fit, but as they got to know him, his story revealed unexpected nuance that ultimately made him the ideal focus.
“Documentaries just unravel and tell themselves,” Braun said. “In this film, we get something out of Patrick that a lot of people may not know about him — and that’s great storytelling. It slowly leaks out, and you start to see the truth about Patrick.”
“SIPHON”
Thomas Chang, senior Screen Arts major, wrote, directed and produced the chilling film, “SIPHON.” The story follows recent graduate Cassie as she interviews for a mysterious job but realizes the man interviewing her is actually stalking her. The film had the audience gasping in horror throughout the screening.
Senior Screen Arts major Alekza Rhyan said she only had a small part in the film, but Chang made the process easy for the cast and crew by clearly communicating how he wanted the film to come together.
“Tom [Thomas Chang] is very particular in the way he does things, so it was nice to be on set with someone who had a vision and knew what he wanted to execute,” Rhyan said.
“UNSCRIPTED”
Theatre major Kysiah Tapia directed “Unscripted,” a comedic story that had the audience laughing throughout the film until the shift that comes with the impactful final monologue. The story begins with the release of a cast list for a theatrical production and follows an animated and hilarious group of theater kids as their strong personalities conflict with each other.
Junior Acting major Jackson Cottrell delivered a versatile performance that began as hilarious and over-the-top, then transitioned to serious as he gave a powerful final speech.
Cottrell said he loves the impact that acting can have on audiences.
“I love to make someone’s day brighter with a laugh or do something impactful that makes them feel better or worse temporarily — and helps them through something,” Cottrell said.
“King of Everything”
Ryan Pope, senior Screen Arts major, wrote, directed and produced “King of Everything,” which tells the story of 18-year-old Annie who spends her last night in Los Angeles before an asteroid strikes the planet at dawn. Annie feels unwanted and alone but ultimately claims the night as her own by declaring herself “king” of the empty city.
Pope said he got the idea for the film when he studied abroad in Switzerland two years ago.
“I found my inner sense of independence,” Pope said. “There’s a stigma around independence nowadays and doing things alone, but I wanted to promote the idea that doing things by yourself and being independent is crucial and important for your personal growth.”
“King of Everything” won the Best Original Screenplay award.
“MADE IN ITALY”
“MADE IN ITALY” was the main standout of the night, sweeping four out of the eight awards.
The documentary, co-directed by seniors Alekza Rhyan and Dane Malzahn, centers on chef Antonio Sessa, owner of the Italian restaurant Made in Italy Bistro in Westlake Village. The film explores Sessa’s journey from Italy to America and how he opened his restaurant with the goal of bringing ‘simple Italian food’ to the United States.
Malzahn said his favorite part of the process was the final night of filming Sessa making his Nonna’s signature dish — the cavatelli.
“We included a shot of him [Sessa] serving the cavatelli to customers because it’s a full-circle moment — a memory translated into food and then shared with people,” Malzahn said. “It feels like a translation of Italian culture.”
“MADE IN ITALY” won the Best Editing Award, Best Cinematography Award, Best Documentary Award and the Audience Choice Award.
“We’ll Be in Touch”
“We’ll Be in Touch,” was a film by Thomas Breslin, Roman Dickow and Dane Malzahn, starring Alekza Rhyan, Jackson Cottrell, Nick Yi and even Senior Vice Chancellor Hung Le.
Through masterful transitions and camera work that showed parallel interviews of two characters applying for the same job, the audience watched the introverted Josh and confident Rachel form an unlikely friendship.
Breslin said he learned how collaborative filmmaking is with “We’ll Be in Touch.”
“It [the film] is something I am really proud of, because it was no one person’s film,” Breslin said. “It was all of us coming together to fill the roles based on our strengths. Learning about that collaborative element of filmmaking was amazing.”
Cottrell said he loved acting in this short film, because the crew could not stop laughing.
“We would have to stop [film] takes because we would be laughing for five to ten minutes,” Cottrell said. “It was incredibly fun — just non-stop laughter and friends.”
On To Hollywood
From watching actors pose on the red carpet or the standing ovation that “MADE IN ITALY” received after earning its fourth award of the night, RSFF17 demonstrated how student filmmakers are using campus opportunities to envision their futures.
“Post grad, I want to continue making documentaries, going down that path and seeing where it leads,” Breslin said. “Eventually, I would like to try writing more and maybe doing some narrative work, but for the time being, I really fell in love with documentaries.”
Harris said she just signed with a manager after graduating.
“I’m auditioning for a lot of big projects, so hopefully something will land,” Harris said. “My main goal is acting, but I don’t want to let go of the filmmaking side anytime soon.”
At RSFF17, student filmmakers didn’t just screen their work — they began to build careers that will develop beyond the event.
“This was the first time that I felt identifiable as a director and as a filmmaker,” Harris said.
Cottrell said acting is a career he wants to pursue for the benefit of others.
“My long-term goal is I want to be successful as an actor — not for myself but to use the power, influence, connections and money that comes with being famous to change the world for the better,” Cottrell said. “I want to be hands-on in making a difference in the world.”
Holladay said ReelStories helps the community recognize the skills of student filmmakers and the professional potential behind their work.
“The whole purpose of this event is we [the Board] want the students in the Pepperdine community to realize how amazing these films are,” Holladay said. “And how talented the peers we go to school with are.”
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Contact Annslee Mitchell via email: annslee.mitchell@pepperdine.edu