American student films

Dark Star is a 1974 American independent science fiction comedy film produced, scored and directed by John Carpenter and co-written with Dan O'Bannon. It follows the crew of the deteriorating starship Dark Star, twenty years into their mission to destroy unstable planets that might threaten future colonization of other planets.

American Taboo is a 1983 American independent drama film directed by Steve Lustgarten. Its plot follows a thirty-something year old photographer who begins an illicit romance with a teenage girl. It won the 1983 Academy Award for Best Student Film for Lustgarten, a film student at Portland State University.

Cannibal! The Musical (originally known as Alferd Packer: The Musical) is a 1993 American black comedy Western musical film directed, written, produced, co-scored by and starring Trey Parker in his directorial debut while studying at the University of Colorado at Boulder, before reaching fame with South Park alongside his friend Matt Stone who also stars in and produced the film. It is loosely based on the true story of Alfred Packer and the sordid details of the trip from Utah to Colorado that left his five fellow travelers dead and partially eaten. Trey Parker (credited as Juan Schwartz) stars as Alferd Packer, with frequent collaborators Stone, Dian Bachar, and others playing the supporting roles.

Developing is a 1994 short film (28 minutes) directed by Marya Cohn, about the relationship between a girl and her single mother, who has breast cancer. The film, shot in 1993, stars Natalie Portman in her first film role and Frances Conroy. The short was Cohn's thesis film.

The Dorm That Dripped Blood, originally released under the title Pranks, is a 1982 American slasher film directed by Stephen Carpenter and Jeffrey Obrow, written by Carpenter and Stacey Giachino, and starring Laurie Lapinski, Stephen Sachs, David Snow, Pamela Holland, and Daphne Zuniga in her film debut. It follows four college students who stay on campus over the Christmas holiday to clean out a condemned dormitory, where an unknown assailant begins stalking and murdering them.

Killer of Sheep is a 1978 American drama film edited, filmed, written, produced, and directed by Charles Burnett. Shot primarily in 1972 and 1973, it was originally submitted by Burnett to the UCLA School of Film in 1977 as his Master of Fine Arts thesis. It features Henry G. Sanders, Kaycee Moore, and Charles Bracy, among others, in acting roles.

The Movie Orgy is a 1968 film directed by Joe Dante and produced by Jon Davison. It was an evolving compilation of film clips, commercials, and film trailers, initially assembled by Dante when he was an undergraduate at the Philadelphia College of Art. At its longest, it ran for seven and a half hours and could be considered the analog prelude to the mash-up videos and supercut edits now prevalent on digital platforms like YouTube and Vimeo.

Hated: GG Allin and the Murder Junkies is a 1993 documentary film directed by Todd Phillips. The film is about the life of GG Allin, a punk rock musician who was infamous for extreme behavior (violence, obscenity, drug abuse) and his stage shows becoming confrontational events involving indecent exposure (stripping and performing naked was one of Allin's most common rituals), onstage defecation and coprophagia, physical assault (both on and by Allin), and obscene language. The filmmakers shot additional material on his death (from a heroin overdose during post-production) for inclusion in the film. The film is Phillips' directorial debut, who was a junior at New York University during production.

In the Region of Ice is a 1976 American short film directed by Peter Werner, based upon the short story of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates.

XXXY is a short documentary directed by Porter Gale and Laleh Soomekh.