One, two, three – action!
Filmmaker Aly Hardt describes how UC’s Digital Media Collaborative has enhanced her career
Digital Media Collaborative graduate and filmmaker Aly Hardt.
Aly Hardt did not start her film studies at the University of Cincinnati's College of Arts & Sciences (A&S), but she finished it there in fall of 2019.
After completing her associate degree in Electronic Media at UC Blue Ash, Hardt joined the Digital Media Collaborative. Having acquired a strong technical and professional background in the rigorous program, Hardt wanted to further explore what UC could teach her about film.
After entering the Digital Media Collaborative, she was given the opportunity to “home in on storytelling and create some film projects that I had been wanting to bring to life for some time,” she said.
Hardt is currently working on her first feature film, “ride or die,” which focuses on two best friends whose close relationship is put to the test when lies, secrets and murder are brought to light. Her film, which has occupied her for nearly three years, is now in post-production and should be ready to screen by the end of 2020.
She is already laying plans for her second film, a psychological thriller with the working title “The Orderly” that will soon enter pre-production. Additionally, she’s collaborating with UC Blue Ash E-Media professor Matt Bennett to secure the rights to film one of Stephen King’s short stories.
Looking back on her time at UC, Hardt is happy with the path she took, which allowed her to graduate with the skills and dedication necessary to complete an independent feature film. The collaborative's course Digital Storytelling gave Hardt a particularly transformative experience when two of her colleagues, Greg Washum and Naim David, accompanied her to Centralia, Pa., — a ghost town with perpetual underground fires. The resulting film of their experiences won Best Documentary at CAMS 4.0, the Digital Media Collaborative's end-of-year cinema and media awards ceremony.
The collaborative has equipped Hardt with a unique blend of technical and storytelling skills. By taking part in these programs, Hardt said she’s graduated with “a well-rounded education in film and videography with the tools to succeed.”
This article is one in a series of profiles covering A&S’s Digital Media Collaborative and the opportunities it provides students.
Featured image at top: Director’s clapboard. Image by stokpic from Pixabay.
Related Stories
Scientists discover how snakes stand upright without limbs
March 12, 2026
Earth.com highlights a study co-authored by UC Professor Bruce Jayne, an expert in snake locomotion, about how snakes stand upright without arms or legs.
Pi Day: Where math meets dessert
March 12, 2026
Pi Day is celebrated on March 14 around the world, as March 14 represents its first three numbers, 3.14. It’s a yearly celebration for math lovers to see who can recite the most digits, talk about its history and have an excuse to eat many, many pies! First, the math: PI is the Greek letter “π” and it is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant, as it is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. It has been calculated to over 50 trillion digits beyond its decimal point and will continue to repeat, as it is an irrational and transcendent number.
PHOTOS: UC greenhouse offers colorful respite from winter
March 11, 2026
Atop a roof at the University of Cincinnati, six high-tech glass houses that grow plants for biology in the College of Arts and Sciences. Greenhouse Manager Audrey Trauth is here most days tending the plant collection, which is organized into biomes to accommodate the desert, temperate and tropical plants.