By Tiffany Edwards, University Relations
'Live at Five' is one of 50 winning entries that will be screened during the Carolina Film and Video Festival.
Winning entries in the Carolina Film and Video Festival will receive the star treatment this year - stadium seating and marquee billing alongside big-budget Hollywood films. The 29th annual Carolina Film and Video Festival, Feb. 22-25, has teamed up with Greensboro’s Carousel Cinemas to put high quality, independent films in a commercial venue.
With a mission to present “Tomorrow’s Filmmakers Today,” the student-run competition at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro showcases the work of the finest up-and-coming filmmakers. Works range from 3 seconds to 2 hours and encompass genres from documentary to animation, narrative fiction to experimental.
More than 2,000 filmgoers attended last year’s festival, and this year’s introduction of the Carousel Cinemas as a venue promises to bring the festival to the attention of an even broader audience.
“Although some festivals rely on ‘star power,’ the Carolina Film and Video Festival focuses on being a springboard for emerging filmmakers. Our strength is in the quality of our films and being able to bring the audience the next Tarrantino or Napolean Dynamite,” said Kimberlianne Podlas, director of the festival. Podlas is a professor of media law in the UNCG Department of Broadcasting and Cinema, and officially takes the reigns as director after serving as faculty advisor last year.
Matching last year’s record-breaking interest, 400 films were submitted this year.
The top 50 will be screened. This year’s short film competitive screenings run Wednesday through Friday, Feb. 22-24, at 7 p.m. in Elliott University Center Auditorium on the UNCG campus. Feature films will also be screened at the Carousel Cinemas on Battleground Avenue and in the Weatherspoon Art Museum. Ticket prices for screenings on campus are $3 for students and $5 for adults; tickets will be available at the door. Admission for events at the Carousel will reflect standard Carousel pricing.
Carousel Cinemas will host Winners Night Saturday, Feb. 25, with screenings at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. and a closing reception open to all at 9 p.m. Winners will be announced and $500 in cash prizes will be given to each winner. That night the Department of Broadcasting and Cinema will present the N.C. Distinguished Filmmaker Award to Ross McElwee. Tickets for this event are $9.
In addition, for film-goers who missed a movie or want to see their favorite again, the week following the festival (Feb. 22- March 2), Carousel Cinemas will host a special “Best Of” screening, featuring our top entries.
Judges for this year’s festival are Charles Kanganis (director of TV’s “According to Jim” and many popular family films), Steve Clements (producer of “The New Mickey Mouse Club”), and UNCG alumnus Matt Lendach (producer, “Little Athens”).
“Rome & Jewel” by Charles Kanganis and “Little Athens” by Matt Lendach and Tom Zuber will both be screened during the festival at Carousel Cinemas. “Little Athens,” billed as a “multi-storied, anti-coming-of-age drama about a whirlwind day in the lives of small town youth,” features a talented cast of rising young stars: John Patrick Amedori (“The Butterfly Effect”), Jorge Garcia (“LOST”), Michelle Horn (“Hostage”), Eric Szmanda (“CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”), and Rachel Miner (“Bully”), among others. For more information about Lendach’s film, visit www.littleathens.com.
Judges for the screenwriting competition are Sam Froelich, High Point filmmaker, and Jay Putnam, artistic associate at Triad Stage and acting professor at UNCG.
The festival’s daytime program includes workshops and presentations exploring many aspects of filmmaking. For a full schedule, visit www.carolinafilmandvideofestival.org.
The Carolina Film and Video Festival is the oldest continuously operating film festival in the Carolinas. Growing from a one-day event in February 1978, its mission is to encourage and promote excellence among student and emerging filmmakers in the region and around the world.
The event is presented by the UNCG Department of Broadcasting and Cinema. For more information about the festival, visit www.carolinafilmandvideofestival.org or call (336) 334-4197.
