According to the nonprofit film office Film L.A., Louisiana is the film production capital of the United States, and many students at the University want to join the ranks of the nation’s finest filmmakers. Hopeful directors enroll in the University’s film and media arts program and produce short films in hopes of one day making it in the big leagues.
Akeem Muhammad, English and communication studies junior, doesn’t want to wait until graduation to achieve his filmmaking dreams.
“Carpe Lucem,” a massive experimental film project, is Muhammad’s realization of his dream, and he wants it to be the biggest film project anyone at the University has ever produced.
“I want to involve as many people as I possibly can in this project, and I want it to be enormous,” Muhammad said.
“Carpe Lucem” is currently a three-act screenplay that infuses elements of magical realism into the long-standing cinematic tradition of film noir.
The characters of Muhammad’s story exist in a world in which color does not exist. The protagonist of the film locates an object that brings colors into the world, but he is soon hunted by a group that wants to destroy his discovery. Muhammad said the story is symbolic of the creative suppression that occurs when artists confine themselves to the whims and styles of other people.
In an effort to innovate the filmmaking process, Muhammad will host a multimedia event on campus with a large crowd of students and insert footage of the event into a segment of the movie.
The event will include spoken word performances, live music, dancing, an art exhibition and a fashion show. Muhammad hopes to host the event at the Greek Theatre in September, and he intends to invite everyone on campus to the show.
Muhammad also hopes to involve students of all studies in his project. He said he believes everyone, regardless of major, has something to offer creatively, and overlooking the University’s massive pool of talent would be an egregious error.
“If the University sees so many people involved in a successful project like this, they’ll want to support the creation of more artistic endeavors in the future,” Muhammad said.
Muhammad’s brainchild was largely influenced by a TED talk given by “Lost” and “Star Trek” director J.J. Abrams in 2007. In his talk, Abrams encouraged aspiring artists to involve different kinds of thinkers in their projects and not to confine themselves to the limits set by the film industry.
Muhammad took Abrams’ advice to heart and began writing the script for “Carpe Lucem” last year. He assembled a dedicated crew of peers to assist him in this endeavor and solicited the University for approval and assistance just a few months later.
Muhammad and his crew are now recruiting students for the project. They have given talks to various classes in the past few weeks, and they are currently holding auditions for various roles in the film.
“I don’t want to leave any kind of talent out of the project,” Muhammad said.
Muhammad and his crew will hold a round of auditions from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. tonight in room 452 of the Student Union. For more information, contact Muhammad at [email protected].
“I want to involve as many people as I possibly can in this project, and I want it to be enormous.”

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Richard Redmann

LSU English and communication studies junior Akeem Muhammad is working on a film, Carpe Lumen, in which he has involved LSU students from across campus.