An annual rite of spring on the Cornell campus is the screening of student films. This year, there's some Mike Figgis, Quentin Tarentino, Silence of the Lambs, a tip of the hat to Disney and plenty of action to make audiences squirm, cower, clap and laugh.

Supporting the talent behind these films is Hollywood screenwriter Melville Shavelson, who has established an award program at Cornell for promising filmmakers.

In Luce, a social misfit and his flying pixie companion find their friendship threatened when a woman comes between them. The Chimes of Abraham Bell follows one man's destructive obsession with a music-box ballerina.

Moonwalk tells the tale of a hard-luck entrepreneur who brings his cursed "moonwalk" to carnivals and ends up penniless and lonely.

Two lovers who briefly meet each year over a decade find most of their moments spent in angry discourse in The Conversation.

"They're all really about strange and dysfunctional relationships," said Marilyn Rivchin, senior lecturer in filmmaking, speaking about the final projects of the four students in the Advanced Undergraduate Film Program. "The films reflect what they see out there on the big screen." Three of these films get their world premiere May 12 at 7:30 p.m. in Willard Straight Hall. Moonwalk premieres in December.

Charlene Sun, who hopes to attend medical school this fall, said her idea for writing and producing Luce was partly inspired by Disney.

"I hated Tinkerbell," she said.

Luce, the pixie, is anything but Tinkerbell, the winged sprite who sprinkled pixie dust everywhere to make kids and boats soar in Peter Pan.

Luce, who resembles a white rag doll with hollow eyes, is kept in a tin box by her human friend Pablo. All is well until Pablo answers an ad for a sublet and is seduced by a female tenant. The relationship sours when Luce witnesses an amorous exchange between the two.

Tragedy or comedy? Sun's classmates chuckled during a recent rough-cut screening of the film. "I really want to entertain people," said Sun. "That's my intention with this film." Entertaining people takes hard work and a lot of money. Sun spent more than a semester on the film, which included writing the script and composing the score, and hundreds of dollars in production costs.

Shooting in film is especially costly, Rivchin said. "You have the cost of film and of processing and sound transfer, which is done in New York City," she said. "For a student who wants to finish a film print, the costs for a 15-minute film are typically $2,000 to $4,000. It's less costly to shoot in film and transfer to video for editing and much cheaper todo it all in video, but most students here like the 'film look.'"

To offset this expense, Hollywood screenwriter, director and producer Melville Shavelson, a 1937 Cornell graduate, has established the 1996 Melville Shavelson Film Awards.

The awards -- $1,000 in cash -- have been given to the four students in the Advanced Undergraduate Film Program. They are Sun, Chris Spurgin, Catherine Tingey and Brendan Yetter. The establishment of this new film program will enable Cornell's top student filmmakers with the opportunity to further pursue their film studies.

In addition, Shavelson is supporting the purchase of new film equipment, which will help the film program keep current with the technological changes that affect the filmmaking process.

"This is the most significant individual gift to the film program we've had and one that directly helps undergraduate screenwriters and filmmakers by recognizing our most talented students and helping to support the bottom line," Rivchin said.

Shavelson was twice nominated for an Academy Award for original screenplay for The Seven Little Foys and Houseboat. He won a Screen Writers Guild Award for The Five Pennies. He has written, along with or in collaboration, over 35 motion pictures and television programs.

Among the stars he has directed are Lucille Ball, Yul Brynner, Kirk Douglas, Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Bob Hope, Sophia Loren, Frank Sinatra and John Wayne.

Shavelson, president of the Writers Guild of America -- West, is the author of two novels and four works of nonfiction, including the recent bestseller, Don't Shoot It's Only Me, in collaboration with Bob Hope.

Shavelson will attend the May 12 screening of student films and meet with Shavelson Awards winners May 13.