Before attending an extras casting call last summer while visiting his brother in New York City, sophomore Miguel Alvarez-Flatow '14 did his homework. That's how he recognized the movie's director, Ira Sachs, standing in another room and so asked to meet him. "I told him I was from Kenyon, and he knew the school," said Alvarez-Flatow. Soon they were talking about a supporting role in the film. Three auditions later, Alvarez-Flatow beat out fifty-five other actors who read for the part of Igor in Sachs' latest film, Keep the Lights On, which premiered on January 20, 2012, at the Sundance Film Festival.

"I was so excited when I got the part that I wanted to run around New York City naked," he said. But what he actually did was buckle down and work hard at the role.

"The whole thing is exciting and unreal," said Alvarez-Flatow, who attended the Park City, Utah, festival. He acts under the name Miguel del Toro. "Ira is introducing me to agents and producers. It's all like a dream for me."

An ardent soccer player in his native Mexico, Alvarez-Flatow continues to play on Kenyon's soccer team." But after playing Mercutio in a high-school production of Romeo and Juliet for which a drama teacher convinced him to try out, he was set on becoming an actor. An academic scholarship brought him to Kenyon. "I was looking for a good theater and writing program," he said.

He plans to major in Kenyon's new film program. "The film professors here are amazing," he said. When he received word last fall that director Sachs needed him to dub additional lines for Keep the Lights On, professors Jon Tazewell and Jon Sherman arranged for him to do the voiceovers in a soundproof booth on campus so he would not have to miss any class time. "They were great. Professor Sherman read with me and advised me on line readings," he said.

Kenyon was well-represented at the 2012 Sundance Festival. Liberal Arts, the latest film written and directed by its star Josh Radnor '96, received a standing ovation at its premiere. The film, set at a college and filmed on campus last summer, features Allison Janney '82 in a starring cast including Elizabeth Olsen, Richard Jenkins, and Zac Efron.