Foresters Walked the Hollywood Red Carpet for SENIORS

The HU Forester Film SENIORS won the Grand Prize at the Indiewood Film Festival. Lance Clark, director of the film, outlined the experience.

By Vanessa Gradeless | October 14, 2026

SENIORS was selected to be screened by the Hollywood Indiewood Film Festival. On September 16^th, HU professors and students involved in the filming attended the SENIORS premiere in Los Angeles at the TLC Chinese Theatre. The film tells a story of redemption, purpose, and connection for the old and the young, as it follows a teen boy’s adventure after he strikes a deal with an old man he meets while completing community service. In exchange for knowledge on how to write a great novel, the boy agrees to help his old friend escape from his retirement home.

Lance Clark, HU Film Professor and Dean of the Arts, said, “Huntington University students have certainly had opportunities in Los Angeles before through our film program and our relationship with the LA Film Studies Center, but this was something different. This was our own feature film, produced through Forester Film and Huntington University, receiving a Hollywood red-carpet premiere with our students, faculty, actors, and supporters there together.”

At the event, HU students and faculty walked a red carpet with other professionals, like John Rhys-Davies and Paris Brosnan, who helped in the making of SENIORS. They all attended the screening of the film and a Q&A for Davies and Brosnan afterward. By the end of the night, SENIORS won the Grand Prize for Best Feature Film. Their big evening ended with an after-party at the Loews Hollywood Hotel.

“For students who had been hauling equipment and working long production days in Indiana a year earlier, suddenly being dressed up and walking a Hollywood red carpet for the movie they helped make was pretty surreal,” said Lance Clark.

The screenplay for SENIORS was written by HU alum Erica Leigh Dick and directed by Lance Clark and produced by Professor Matt Webb. Filming began back in May of 2025. The film was shot in twenty-one days, although many months of preparation had preceded the filming. Students got to work with Davies and Brosnan, who led the cast and crew. Davies also starred as one of the main roles. There were over 40 HU students, both from the Indiana campus and Arizona location, who were involved.

“This isn’t a student film in the traditional sense,” Clark said, “It is a professional feature film in which our students work alongside experienced industry professionals and are given real responsibilities within professional departments. Students served throughout camera, lighting, grip, art, production, sound and other departments. They weren’t standing on the sidelines watching professionals make a movie; they were part of the team making the movie.”

The screening of this Forester Film, along with winning the Grand Prize, marked an important moment in HU film department history, as it has been described as SENIORS’ Hollywood debut.

“You always hope people will connect with your film, but you never presume you’re going to win something like that,” said Clark. “We went to Hollywood primarily to celebrate the film, our students, and everyone who had poured so much into making it. Coming home as the Grand Prize winner for Best Feature Film was tremendous affirmation. I was especially proud because the award represented the work of so many people — our students, faculty, professional crew, actors, donors and supporters. This was something hundreds of people helped make possible. The Grand Prize belonged to all of them.”