You might say UC Davis filmmaker Kevin Okulolo is “hooked” on Khale, the young action hero in Okulolo’s Hooked — winner of the best animation and best sound design awards in last year’s UC Davis Film Festival, a student competition for works no longer than 10 minutes, including credits.

Okulolo, a senior, has written 41 more episodes for Khale, who faces intense moral dilemmas and fights for what he thinks is right. Despite the fantasy setting, the series is autobiographical.

Okulolo has launched his own animation studio to produce these and other films, and has sponsorhip funding from the flash portal Newgrounds.com.

He submitted his two newest titles to this year’s festival: Puzzle Shoes, a romantic comedy about a boy with puzzle pieces for shoes who is trying to find his place in the world; and World Town, a music video in which three “old-school b-boys” dance the night away.

The Department of Theatre and Dance produces the festival in association with Technocultural Studies. Co-sponsors are the Art Studio and Film Studies programs.

This year’s festival is the ninth annual, and it drew 63 entries — more than double last year’s count. Also, the filmmakers are coming from a wider variety of disciplines. Okulolo, for example, is a double major in psychology and film studies.

Jonah Cox, who graduated last June with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, captured two awards last year for Everything Is Nothing: best in show and best experimental. Despite having graduated, Cox is back for this year’s festival with a film that he produced in 2008. In Everything Is Nothing, Cox told about making peace with his father’s untimely death. His new entry, Eye on Indie, is a spoof on independent artists.

Beyond animation and experimental, other genre categories are drama, comedy, commercial, documentary and music video. The technical categories are screenplay, cinematography, editing and directing, as well as sound design.

During the filmmaking process, students have the opportunity to engage with arts faculty, many of whom are professionals in film, television and new media. Via a presubmission schedule, students can receive constructive criticism and help with how to take their work to the next level.

A faculty group curates the program, and prizes go to the winners. In years past, the prizes consisted of invitations to visit sets and other working environments of professional faculty who work in Los Angeles and other industry centers.

Reporting by Janice Bisgaard, publicity director for the Department of Theatre and Dance.

AT A GLANCE

WHAT: UC Davis Film Festival

WHEN: 8:30 p.m. May 27 and 28 (doors open at 8)

WHERE: Varsity Theatre, 616 Second St., Davis

ADMISSION: $5

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Watch some of last year’s winners: ucdavis.edu

“contesting citizenship: (dis)locating bodies,” video art and discussion, leads off the third annual Queer Studies Graduate Symposium.

Third annual Tournées Festival of French and Francophone Films.