Essay Contest Winners 2026 Essay Contest Winners First Place: “The Femme Fatale in The Bride Wore Black and Mississippi Mermaid" by Christopher MartinFirst Place: “Gender, Criminality, and Deviance: Film Noir Through the Framework of Angela Y. Davos" by Saturn B. Read the Winning Essays Bitter Rice, neither Neorealism nor Noir The 2022 Film Essay Prize winner by Brian Berry brought to life in a short film by PSU alum Jesselynn Amerling. Persepolis: Rewriting the Transnational Woman's Body in "Herstory" An essay by PSU film student Eden Radfarr, brought to life in a short film by PSU Film alum David Jordan, motion design by Josh Luna. An Aesthetic of Failure: Romanian Cinema in the Wake of the Revolution An essay by PSU film student Anna Weltner, brought to life in a short film by PSU Film alum David Jordan, motion design by Josh Luna. Polanski's Apartment Trilogy: Perceptual Crisis, Identity, and the Rented Flat An essay by PSU film student Jubel Brosseau, brought to life in a short film by PSU Film alum David Jordan, motion design by Josh Luna.