Union University student filmmakers get a chance to showcase their filmmaking talents every year through the twelfth annual student film festival.
The festival will kick off Monday, March 23 at 6:30 p.m. in the W.D. Powell theater, with the screening of all the submitted films, followed by the “Directors’ Talk” where the creators of the films will be able to talk about their films to the audience.
On Tuesday, March 24 at 7:30 p.m. there will be a second screening of all films and an awards ceremony held in Barefoots Joe.
“The Union Film Festival is an annual showcase of student films, designed to encourage the filmmaking community here on campus,” said Chris Blair, professor of Communication Arts.
There is a cash prize for each of the entries for best long and short form films, best documentary, and a Student Activities Council sponsored student choice award which allows the people attending the directors’ talk to be able to vote for their favorite films of the evening.
The films will be judged from a variety of judges this year from judges anywhere from Nashville to California. How that works is that the submissions are also submitted online and are judged by these particular judges and what they look for are not only best films, but also judge in the technical and acting categories as well.
There will be a variety of submissions this year from the students of the digital filmmaking class to a film submitted by James Watlington who is currently studying at the Los Angeles Film Study Center.
“I particularly like the Monday night directors’ talk,” said Blair. “We get to hear what lead them to make this film, what worked, what didn’t. You get to hear the funny stories, the cool things that happened, where they were able to shoot, and where the story came from.”
Blair is a co-director along with Cam Tracy, a web developer for Union University’s Communication staff. Blair and Tracy both get to take part in the Monday night director’s talk and interview the students about their films.
Gabe Farmer, senior Digital Studies major has entered two films into the festival this year and was able to help out with the planning of it.
“My favorite part about the festival is seeing what films other Union students have created and seeing how visual storytelling differs in different students,” Farmer said.
To find out more about the Union Student Film Festival go to http://www.uu.edu/events/filmfestival/# for more information.
