{"id":153898,"date":"2026-02-06T17:04:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T17:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/153898\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T17:04:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T17:04:11","slug":"filmmaker-shyam-madhav-says-goodnight-college-and-hello-to-the-road-the-austin-chronicle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/153898\/","title":{"rendered":"Filmmaker Shyam Madhav Says Goodnight College and Hello to the Road \u2022 The Austin Chronicle"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s something about UT-Austin and film. Something about the campus and its surrounding neighborhoods that inspires filmmakers to chronicle its peculiarities and personalities. Aside from big budget productions like Man of the House<\/a> and The Hitcher<\/a> that use the 40 Acres as a backdrop, it\u2019s inspired films more explicitly rooted in the UT and Austin experience. Whether it\u2019s Richard Linklater starting Slacker<\/a> on the Drag and West Campus, Tobe Hooper heading to the student housing of Hyde Park for Eggshells<\/a>, or taking a trip around campus for Austin Film Festival 2024 selection American Spirit<\/a>, the siren call to budding directors is simple: There\u2019s always\u2019s something going on.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s as true now as it\u2019s ever been, and it\u2019s as true for Shyam Madhav as it was for his predecessors. \u201cIt\u2019s in the core,\u201d he said, \u201cit\u2019s in the spirit,\u201d and it\u2019s why he made Goodnight College, a raucous, elegiac, quietly insightful documentary about one night in 2024, two weeks before the end of the school year.<\/p>\n

He originally filmed Goodnight College in the spring of 2024 as his capstone project for his degree from UT\u2019s RTF department. Since then he has spent the last year and a half re-editing it into its current video montage form, which follows multiple groups of friends, classmates, and co-op neighbors from evening to dawn. Madhav explained that he was inspired to make something that captured his own experiences. \u201cI would be walking around campus and even on a typical Thursday night, Friday night, I\u2019d be like, \u2018Dang, this would be a cool movie.\u2019 It was really as simple as that, just wanting to film it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Madhav acknowledged Linklater as a big influence \u2013 but for Dazed & Confused rather than Slacker. More recent on his watch list is Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets<\/a>, Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross\u2019 docudrama recounting the last night in a Las Vegas dive bar. He said, \u201cI\u2019ve always loved movies that take place over one night [and] there was never a version of this that was following people over several months. I always knew that, if you made it feel like you were there for one night, that would be the only way to keep it feeling entertaining, like you\u2019re there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Filmmaker Shyam Madhav<\/p>\n

And Madhav is there too, sometimes even on camera as he hands it over to his fellow students. \u201cI wanted to cut away all the artifice,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to never acknowledge the fact that there\u2019s a camera in everyone\u2019s faces. And it makes people more comfortable too \u2026 Instead of the camera being on a tripod, it\u2019s just here, and we\u2019re talking. You get better moments that way.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Like the Rosses, he fudged the shooting timeline a little \u2013 after all, with a crew that was basically just Madhav, his Fujifilm XT3 camera, and his buddy, Ethan Tinsley, working sound it would be physically impossible for Madhav to be everywhere at once. Yet having that extra filming time allowed Madhav to not simply follow a couple of people, but a selection that represents the full diversity of college life. \u201cWhen it started,\u201d he said, \u201cI was like, we\u2019re going full-on big. We\u2019re getting the football team. We\u2019re getting Matthew McConaughey in this thing. We\u2019re doing the most mainstream version of this thing, but it became the classic \u2018happy accidents\u2019 thing. Through the process of reaching out to people you end up with exactly what you needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

He started with people he knew \u2013 seniors facing their imminent graduation, and his fellow comedians of Snafu Improv \u2013 and through those groups he was introduced to other people, from student artists organizing a co-op party to a bunch of freshmen pulling an all-nighter in the library, and live music from bands including Swimming With Bears and Spirit of the Beehive<\/a>. \u201cIt was all connected,\u201d Madhav said. \u201cDifferent people from different pockets would know someone.\u201d So while he didn\u2019t get the football team, one of the seniors he was following was frat brothers with a member of the men\u2019s ice hockey squad, who introduced him to the team management, who were thrilled to let Madhav and Tinsley into the locker room during an important game. \u201cThey were so excited,\u201d Madhav said. \u201cThey were like, \u2018It\u2019s like being in a Netflix documentary!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Still from Goodnight College<\/p>\n

However, sometimes it took the dogged determination of a documentarian to get access, as in the key scenes in a minimart that became a narrative hub. \u201cThat was just me going there, every day, and hounding them. They were like, \u2018What do you want to do? You want to bring a boom mic and follow people around the store all night?\u2019 And we\u2019re like, \u2018Yeah, it\u2019ll be cool.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

After debuting Goodnight College at last year\u2019s Austin Under the StarsFilm Festival, Madhav gave the film its non-festival premiere last month at Hyperreal Film Club and followed that up with an encore at the Fallout Theatre, but that\u2019s just the beginning of his plans. He\u2019s now taking Goodnight College on a tour of campuses and arthouse cinemas<\/a>. The screenings begin on Feb. 20 at the University of Colorado Boulder, with dates scheduled around the country (including another Austin screening on March 14). Madhav said, \u201cWe\u2019re going to treat it like a tour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goodnight College National Campus Tour\u00a0<\/p>\n

Feb. 20: University of Colorado Boulder<\/p>\n

Feb. 26: University of North Carolina Wilmington<\/p>\n

March 4: Lemoyne College, Syracuse, NY<\/p>\n

March 6: Tulane University, New Orleans<\/p>\n

March 14: Austin, TBA\u00a0<\/p>\n

March 26: UT-Dallas\u00a0<\/p>\n

April 1: UCLA<\/p>\n

April 10: University of Oregon<\/p>\n

April 18: NYC, TBA<\/p>\n

A note to readers:\u00a0Bold and uncensored,\u00a0The Austin Chronicle\u00a0has been Austin\u2019s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community\u2019s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands. <\/p>\n

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