There are many benefits of being a Colgate University graduate: a great education, for example, as well as excellent professional development and an inspiring athletic reputation. However, one of the most powerful advantages of graduating from Colgate is entry into an expansive community of talented, intelligent and motivated professionals — the famed Colgate alumni network.
One such Colgate alumnus is Chris Quintos Cathcart ’05. Quintos Cathcart went from being a frustrated Filipinx actress who could not find interesting roles for her “type” to becoming the co-founder of Unapologetic Projects, financing movies that support underrepresented groups and voices in the film industry.
Her career trajectory recently put her in the path of fellow Colgate grad Alexander Heller ’13, an up-and-coming screenwriter. The two worked together to adapt Heller’s short film “The Musical” into a full-length feature film.
Quintos Cathcart’s production company, co-founded with friend Tyler Boehm, values diversity and authenticity above star power and name recognition when evaluating a project. This philosophy is demonstrated best in two of Unapologetic Projects’ major films, “DÍDI” and “All That We Love.” “DÍDI” won the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, marking a significant milestone in Quintos Cathcart and Boehm’s mission.
“We started the company with the idea of breaking out of the cyclical nature of current films,” Quintos Cathcart said. “Currently, movies are made with the same few actors getting all the major roles, and everything just gets stuck in a loop… We had a theory that people would appreciate films like ‘DÍDI’ and ‘All That We Love’ because they were stories that had not been told, with lesser-known actors making up the cast.”
Quintos Cathcart’s career path has been unique, starting as an actress and writer before transitioning to a film financier. Business-related classes, such as economics and statistics, were not part of Quintos Cathcart’s chosen curriculum at Colgate, and she did not pick up much corporate experience before Unapologetic Projects. However, Quintos Cathcart’s experiences as an actor of Philippine descent gave her unique insight into the industry — something that other executives lacked.
After graduating from Colgate, Quintos Cathcart went to San Francisco and worked on various independent films. After limited success, she became frustrated with the lack of roles that seemed to suit her and began writing characters for herself. This period in her life would prove to be fruitful — it was during this time that she met Boehm, which gave her an edge in discerning what made a director or actor right for a project.
“Doing all that gave me firsthand knowledge of what directors need out of an actor,” Quintos Cathcart said. “Directors are running small companies … Being an actor helped me discern what directors will maximize the film’s potential.”
Quintos Cathcart’s education at Colgate was not what one would expect. Majoring in international relations and minoring in Japanese, what most stands out in her mind are the small class sizes, top-tier professors, lasting relationships she formed — Quintos Cathcart married someone she dated while at Colgate — and diversity of the student body.
Another valuable skill she cultivated at Colgate was networking. Quintos Cathcart is a member of a Facebook group that consists of Colgate grads who are currently in the entertainment business. Through this group, alumnus Alexander Heller reached out and sent her a short-film version of “The Musical.”
“I get a lot of shorts to watch every year, but Alex’s was the best I had seen that year,” Quintos Cathcart said. “It is full of dark humor, which is really hard to pull off … At multiple points, I was actually belly-laughing.”
After various Zoom calls and talks, Heller rewrote “The Musical” into a feature film.
“It was a masterclass in turning a short film into a feature film,” Quintos Cathcart said. “And to be honest, I expected nothing less from a Colgate grad.”
Quintos Cathcart spoke about how wonderful it was to work with Heller on the project, the two often working as a “sounding board for ideas” for each other. The result was, again, nothing less than we should expect from the collaboration of two Colgate alumni. “The Musical” premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, receiving acclaim from the press. The collaboration between Quintos Cathcart and Heller reveals the strength and creativity of the Colgate community in the world beyond Hamilton. Quintos Cathcart’s upcoming projects include “STOP!THAT!TRAIN!”, “Mad Bills to Pay” and “Maddie’s Secret” as Quintos Cathcart continues to expand opportunities for developing directors and actors, as well as underrepresented groups and individuals.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that “The Musical” received acclaim from judges at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. The film premiered at the festival but was not nominated for any awards or judged in competition. The article has been updated.
