About 11 years after he made his first movie, Oak Park native Connor Sorg has a chance to win a major film festival.
Sorg, 21, is now a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he majors in film and marketing. But long before he headed north, he started making movies when he and his fifth grade classmates at William Beye Elementary School in Oak Park were given iPads to help with their studies.
It didn’t take long for Sorg and longtime friend Jack Steketee to figure out they could use iPads for more than homework. They could make movies.
“We taught ourselves. There were no restrictions when they handed (the iPads) out. We had all the resources to make whatever we wanted,” Sorg recalled.
Sorg is now one of three finalists in the 10th Annual Institute of Education Sciences Study Abroad Film Festival for a movie he made about struggles encountered while he studied abroad.
You can watch the three finalists and vote for your favorite movie at www.iesabroad.org/film-fest/vote.
The winner will be announced on Oct. 17 after a screening that evening of the three movies at SIX10, 610 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago. Tickets are $25 for general admission, $10 for students age 25 and younger.
Sorg, who won $500 for being a finalist, gets another $1,000 if his movie wins.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison would also win the $5,000 Barbara Bobrich Annual Scholarship for a student with financial needs who wants to study abroad.
Sorg called being a finalist “a great little surprise,” adding, “I was confident in my film so I can’t say I’m shocked. But I’m definitely excited.”
He learned of the contest when he was studying in Milan, Italy, during the 2024 spring semester.
“Every time you opened a page (on line), there was a banner across the bottom (about the film fest). I had this idea (to enter) in the back of my mind,” he said.
He used his own experiences for the plot of his movie called “The Journey is the Dream.”
“For me, it was kind of a natural, authentic process. I thought ‘Alright, I’d love to make a film about something abroad.’ What happens in my film is I go to pursue a career in marketing in Milan and, along the way, I get presented with opportunities to follow my passion in music.
“I’ve done music related things for 10 years. And, I’m meeting people involved in the music scene in Milan. Through those opportunities and my experience studying marketing, I’m at a crossroad in my life,” he said.
Adding to the challenge, the movie could not be longer than 10 minutes.
That forced Sorg to condense it into a “rather fast-paced film” about “pursuing a corporate career versus a riskier musical career.”
He called the result “an American in Milan wrestling with his future,” which, given his marketing background, would fit nicely on a movie poster.
Part of the movie tells of how he learned of a DJ gig at an event planned at an abandoned convent in southern Italy.
“I thought, ‘This sounds absolutely insane, I’m in’,” he said. “I went to the event, the most insane event ever, then I was back studying marketing again.”
He thought his being torn between expectations and passions “is something a lot of people go through” and would make for an appealing plot.
Also featured is a visit to Norway “when I realize the punchline of the whole film which essentially is the title, that the journey is the dream.”
Because he stars in the movie, he needed help filming.
Oscar Avelar, a friend from classes in Milan, was behind the camera in Italy. Steketee, now enrolled at University of California-Davis, flew over to do the filming in Norway.
Sorg wants movie fans to watch all three finalists before casting votes.
Of course, he will probably be the big voter getter in Oak Park where Sorg has family and friends
Sorg graduated from Oak Park River Forest High School where he was on the swim and water polo teams.
His home is in Oak Park with parents Greg and Stacy along with brothers Brady and Emerson, who have helped with his movies.
“I used to have Brady, the middle child, film me and Emerson doing stuff. Emerson is 11 years younger than me,” he said.
A not-for-profit organization based in Chicago, IES Abroad provides college students access to more than 130 study abroad programs in more than 30 global locations.
Over the past 10 years, more than 160 colleges and universities have been represented through more than 600 student films.
To date the festival has raised more than $1 million for IES Abroad scholarships.
Publicist Victoria Kent said there were 61 entrants in this year’s festival. Sorg is the first finalist from Oak Park. A jury selected three finalists, she said.
Asked if he is the next Steven Spielberg, Sorg laughed and said, “Maybe so. We’ll see.”
His favorite movie director is Christopher Nolan, whose 2010 movie “Inception” still leads to debates regarding its final scene.
“I kind of like that it’s open ended,” Sorg said. “I respect that creative decision.”
Steve Metsch is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
