The Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, Calif., this weekend will screen more than 200 films — including one written and directed by Penn alumnus Kevin McMullin.
McMullin, who graduated in 2009, created his debut film Exit 117 with just $850 and his laptop.
About a group of New Jersey teenagers spending their last summer together, the story is told through a series of interconnected vignettes as the characters confront their transition to adulthood.
McMullin has been making short films since he was 13 years old, but this was his first attempt at a full-length feature film, he said.
He wrote the script for Exit 117 when he was a freshman in Cinema Studies Lecturer Kathleen DeMarco’s screenwriting course.
“He’s a born director,” DeMarco said. “His work displays a majestic sensibility that’s so rare in a director his age.”
McMullin is the youngest director to have a film premiered at Cinequest. Exit 117 is also the production with the lowest budget.
McMullin graduated in three years so he could use the remaining tuition money for the film. However, by working with friends, borrowing equipment and using his laptop to edit the entire movie, he was able to reduce his budget to just $850.
The movie also features an original soundtrack by Drexel University senior Jonah Delso.
Together with the team of Penn and Drexel students, McMullin filmed over 15 days last summer, using natural lighting whenever possible. His friends served as both the film crew and the cast.
Drexel senior and film producer Christina Papi then sent out the film to several film festivals. The movie will be featured at the Atlanta and Garden State film festivals, as well as the Cinequest festival.
College senior Jon-Marc Balint, who had a small acting role in the film and also doubled as a member of the crew, described McMullin as both “fiscally and artistically aware.”
“Kevin is going to be written about in textbooks in the future,” he said. “He knows exactly what he wants, but at the same time is amazingly modest about what he’s achieved.”
The film also received a write-up by Rotten Tomatoes critic Fernando Croce, who described the film “as a series of funny and melancholy duets” from which “emerges a lovely mosaic of transitory yearning.”
College senior Brian Canavan is shooting a documentary on McMullin and Exit 117 for his honors thesis on the marketing and distribution of independent films.
“A lot of people talk the talk, but Kevin can actually walk the walk,” Canavan said. “The fact that all of the actors are his personal friends doesn’t just show how good a director he is, but also what a great person he is.”
McMullin is planning on shooting another film this coming summer.
“I’ve been writing a lot recently and learn best first-hand,” he said. “Hopefully, everything will just keep getting better.”
This article has been corrected to indicate that the Cinequest Film Festival is in San Jose, Calif.
Trailer for Exit 117:
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