GVSU Summer Film Project celebrates 30 years at 'Three Divided by Zero' premiere

Caitlyn Shaw turned a passion for films into a co-producer role

Caitlyn Shaw, a film and video production major and co-producer for "Three Divided by Zero," said the students learn a lot while working alongside professional filmmakers.

"I think I probably learned more on those sets than any other class I had at Grand Valley," said Shaw, who has worked on two of the program's summer films. "It's just such its own beast. The scale is so much bigger."

Shaw grew up with movies. When she was young, her family had movie night on Fridays and she was awed by films like "Star Wars." It was after seeing a commercial for "A Wrinkle in Time" with director Ava DuVernay that she first considered a career in film.

"I'm like, 'Wait, you can be a director as a woman?' That never really occurred to me before. That really kind of inspired me," she said.

It was the reputation of the Summer Film Project that drew Shaw to Grand Valley, where a former high school classmate had worked on one of the projects.

Shaw said that it was a challenge going from smaller scale film projects in initial film courses to the scale of the Summer Film Project. She said the leadership from Potrykus and industry professionals invited input from the students and that they were always ready to offer help and guidance.

"We're there to be collaborators. We're not just there to keep our head down and get the job done," Shaw said. "I really appreciated that."