Dane Sears, a 2021 Computer Science alum, is the writer and director of a suspense thriller that will premiere at the Kentucky Theatre on Thursday, September 15, 2022. His independent feature film, The Hopewell Haunting, will show at 7:30pm.
Sears, a nontraditional student, enrolled in UK’s undergraduate computer science program at age 32 after a career in the local film industry.
Sears received his Filmmaking and Cinematic Arts Certificate from Bluegrass Community and Technical College in 2007. Since then, he has worked in the grip and electric department on several feature films shot in Kentucky, including Secretariat, Midway to Love, Summer Snow and JL Ranch. He enrolled in the UK College of Engineering in 2017.
“Coming to the College of Engineering completely changed my life. At age 32, it can feel like your life trajectory is set, but I’m so glad I went back to school,” said Sears. “I wasn’t happy with my career at the time. Although I love the film industry, I knew I needed more education to move forward with my life.”
Sears started production on The Hopewell Haunting in the summer of 2016. He was able to continue working on production throughout his undergraduate studies at UK thanks to a student job at the Media Depot in the William T. Young Library.
