BSM Students Lend Talents to the Twin Cities Film Festival

By Lily Peterson ’23, BSM EPIC Marketing & Communications Intern 

Benilde St. Margaret's "EPIC" professional partnership program, which stands for Explore, Partner, Inspire, Connect, aids students in discovering their passions, building their portfolios, and becoming ready for the working world.

Students are getting real-world experience through the program, which started in the fall of the 2019–2020 academic year, including internships, job shadowing, and opportunities for meaningful learning. Students participate in, observe, and positively influence the world both within and outside of the classroom as a result of this project. Read more about EPIC.

The Twin Cities Film Festival offers students great opportunities in videography, business management, and photography. “When I received the email from Dr. Pohlen about the opportunity to apply, I never thought that an opportunity like that would ever come around again,” intern Mel Peacock ’23 shared.  

Students interested in this experience could apply to one of the three areas of work specific to the Twin Cities Film Festival internship which included the creative team, marketing work, or the business field. Once students were chosen, they met weekly in their corresponding field of work to set up strategic plans before the Film Festival took place. Work involved communicating with the TCFF team, sending outreach emails to the community, and putting up posters around BSM’s campus.  

This year's festival hosted many special guests including Maggie Baird, an actress and screenwriter based in LA, who was asked to speak about her experiences in the film industry. Other events at the festival included a red carpet showcasing the new and upcoming actors from the films showcased at the event, along with constant showings of the films themselves.  

The BSM interns were tasked with activities including tackling different marketing strategies for the festival and communicating the event out. Sophie Courneliuson ’25 stated, “We have been doing a bunch of different tasks. Our first one was community outreach where we are finding other companies and businesses that would like to come to the Film Fest this year, just getting the word out about it,” Sophie, along with the other interns, agreed that this experience was a great one that opened their eyes to the different areas of marketing in the real world.  

Overall, the interns had an enriching experience learning new skills during their time working with the film festival. “I've learned that being a nonprofit takes a lot of work, and being able to promote such a big thing here in the Twin Cities is very difficult and time-consuming but very rewarding,” Peacock said. The festival itself was a hit once again and they are looking forward to welcoming the BSM interns for years to come.