Every year, a group of ragtag filmmakers go through an intense boot camp called the Advance Film Workshop. This gauntlet of filmic tasks chisels a rough familiarity with film production into a diamond-edged knowledge of the process. Countless hours spent both in front of and behind the camera culminates in the AFW’s finest moment — the Pumpkin Pie Film Festival.

Sponsored by the Stanford Film Society, the Pumpkin Pie Film Festival allows students to flex their cinematic muscle in a series of short films. This year’s theme was “Outside the Box” and each director had to innovatively come up with solutions to this quirky concept. A variety of styles, from the hyper-commercialized gangster experimental to a conceptual look at the aesthetic of janitorial art, came through in six films.

Annenberg Auditorium was packed to the rafters with an audience rowdy and excited to see some student films — or perhaps just to see their friends up on the silver screen. That kind of excitement was reflected in the films made by the students. The aforementioned films, titled “The Job” (Dir. Matt Monahan) and “Daily” (Dir. Ben Henretig) were not the only films exhibited that showed off some ripening student potential. The other films included “Storage USA” (Dir. Michael Zeligs), a introspective look at the nature of The Man; “Just Desserts” (Dir. Cole Paulson), a macabre look at roommate conflicts; “Gopher Village” (Dir. Doug Blumeyer), a drug fueled ninja fight with trippy visuals; and “The Christmas Party” (Dir. Teresa Ingram), a film about childhood wish fulfillment at a hierarchical office party.

Over all, the evening with filled with the creative air of students excited about film. The Q&A session with the directors after the festival featured some humble filmmakers whose work revealed the countless hours of sleep lost in creating films. It is always refreshing to listen to a director, regardless of age or experience, explain the purpose of his film and what jobs he undertook in completing their ambitious projects.

Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming SFS events, including but not exclusive to the Stanford Student Film Festival in May. If you’re interested in being one of these student filmmakers, go to the SFS Web site (http://www.stanford.edu/group/sfs) and check out the possibility of signing up for the next workshop. Who knows, maybe your name will be up in lights someday. Or at least on a photocopied flier all over campus.