Alumni Feature: Mac Escalante

by Annelise Norman

Wednesday, September 7, 2022 -- Updated Monday, October 17, 2022

Spring 2022 graduate Cesar Gerardo “Mac” Escalante is making waves in the film industry thanks to a project he began as an experiential learning activity for his dual degree in Comparative Literature & Intercultural Studies and Film Studies. During the last year of his undergraduate program, Mac worked on a senior project that involved writing and directing his own film from scratch. With the guidance of Dr. Christopher Sieving from the Department of Theatre & Film Studies and support from his peers, Mac’s project transformed into the mid-feature film Aubrey’s Understandings, which is currently sweeping award ceremonies at film festivals around the globe.

Aubrey’s Understandings is a 55-minute film that Mac wrote, performed in, and directed. It tells the story of a young, insecure college student named Timothy who suffers from anxiety and low self-esteem. Lacking direction, Timothy trudges through college with great uncertainty until he meets Aubrey, a sexual health and relationship therapist. Aubrey helps Timothy to build his self-confidence, process past traumas, and learn to appreciate life, ultimately transforming Timothy’s university experience.

Image captured from the filming of Aubrey's Understandings

Mac reflected on the experience of creating this film, saying, “Aubrey’s Understandings was a very exciting and difficult production, but the artistic dedication was absolutely worth it.” Due to the busyness of student and faculty schedules, the film spent almost a full year in production, and that’s after the estimated 8-14 rewrites that the script underwent. Though the process to complete Aubrey’s Understandings was arduous, Mac stayed motivated throughout production, drawing inspiration from such films as The Graduate (1967) and Rushmore (1998). Mac spoke of his primary inspiration for this project, explaining how “the script originated from films I loved seeing about mental health and how it speaks to young adults.”

Cover artwork for Aubrey's Understandings

Mac’s efforts were rewarded when the 2022 film festival season kicked off and Aubrey’s Understandings performed spectacularly at awards ceremonies. So far, the film has won categories at four festivals, but the season is far from over. Below are just a few of the distinctions Mac and his crew have enjoyed for Aubrey’s Understandings:

• Silver Award for Indie Feature, New York Movie Awards
• Honorable Mention for Actress (Megan Govedich), New York Movie Awards
• Best Student Director, Vesuvius International Film Festival
• Best Young Director, 8 ½ Movie Awards
• Best Actress (Megan Govedich), 8 ½ Movie Awards
• Best Student Feature, Washington, D.C. International Cinema Festival
• Best Actor, Washington, D.C. International Cinema Festival
• Best Student Feature, Dreamz Catcher International Film Festival (Calcutta, India)
• Best Actor, Dreamz Catcher International Film Festival (Calcutta, India)

While Mac still has much success to celebrate (and more festival entries to anticipate), he has paused to reflect on the impact that this project, which began as a non-traditional proposal for completing his undergraduate experiential learning requirement, has had on his life and his outlook:

"This can show how an experiential learning activity can attract external recognition and result [in] big achievements. This only shows that the impact and presence of an experiential learning project can extend beyond university boundaries. More importantly, the personal sense of accomplishment cannot be understated as the awards kept pouring in. These victories were unexpected as I thought I was just complying with a graduation requirement, while laboring through the challenges of completing this film project under the difficult conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic."

This realization is exactly what the University of Georgia’s Experiential Learning Initiative and the Office of Experiential Learning are working to foster in every Dawg who graduates from UGA. As a distinctive component of the undergraduate curriculum, experiential learning activities challenge students to apply their learning in new contexts, create opportunities for innovation, and cultivate transferable skills to equip students for their next steps after graduation. That’s the goal – to get our students Ready to Thrive. Well, we’d say Mac Escalante is definitely thriving.

Annelise Norman holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Georgia, where she currently works as the Scholarships & Public Relations Coordinator for the Office of Experiential Learning. Annelise can be contacted at anorm94@uga.edu. For the latest news and announcements from EL, follow us on Instagram.