In Carrboro a film festival is more than just a formal gathering to coldly judge the work of ambitious filmmakers. Around here it’s something more akin to a family reunion.
“Last year I actually knew most of the people there, so it’s much more of a family kind of situation,” local filmmaker Ajit Anthony Prem said of the Carrboro Film Festival. “It’s just one of those things where you kind of take part and you join in. It feels like I’m showing it to my best friends, showing it to the people I really care about.”
This Sunday the area creators of 27 films will also be given this opportunity as the fourth annual festival takes over the Century Center.
Selena Lauterer, chairwoman of the festival’s selection committee, said that providing such a service to the local film community is one of the main focuses of the event.
“It is a community that is rich and ripe with a lot of hidden talent,” she said. “I mean, there are Hollywood, Oscar-winning, Emmy Award-winning filmmakers that are living here. And this is a great way of showcasing that.”
In that effort to display the best movie-making that the area has to offer, Lauterer and her committee whittled down the 105 submissions they received to the 27 that will be shown on Sunday.
“We have sometimes tame, sometimes heated discussions about each film,” she said. “It really is a numbers game because we can only have so many films that fit in so many hours.”
And in this vein, the festival, which exclusively shows short films, has a wide variety. From a 36-second bit of animation submitted by an 11-year-old to longer adult dramas, the festival offers a diverse range of pictures into less than five hours of screening time.
“We joke that everyone that comes to the festival will love something and hate something,” said committee member Jim McQuaid. “Since they’re all short, if you hate this one, wait five minutes and try the next one.”
With each of the last three festivals packing out the Century Center with a standing-room only crowd of more than 500 people, it stands to reason that quite a few people will be around to experience the spectrum.
And it’s out of the diverse range of films that the festival gives out awards. In addition to the traditional first, second and third place overall awards, the festival gives out awards in a selection of other categories such as best student film and an honor for best film as voted on by the audience.
To choose the top honors, the films are consolidated down into a list of contenders that are then screened for a blue ribbon panel that makes the decisions. This year 14 movies made this screening.
But for the filmmakers participating, the Carrboro Film Festival is about a lot more than awards.
“You really get an idea of what’s happening on the ground versus if you go to a bigger film festival,” said Prem, who has two films in this year’s event and was on last year’s selection committee.
“Even Full Frame, that is more broad and talking about subjects that have to do with what’s happening around the world. With the Carrboro Film Festival it’s what’s happening here, what’s happening in Carrboro, what’s happening in Chapel Hill. What’s happening in the Orange County area.”
“Every time I go to the festival I get informed in some way. I’m not aware of some artist or I’m not aware of some cool thing here, and I get some information about it, which is great.”
It’s this kind of local focus that Lauterer said makes her festival stand out, speaking to how participants indicated such to her at last year’s after party.
“I had a couple filmmakers come up to me and tell me, ‘you know this is my favorite film festival I’ve ever been involved in,’” she said. “And I thought, ‘Oh, this, our little homegrown, grassroots, community film festival, and we’re having people say that.’”
Attend the event
Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009
Carrboro Century Center
Tickets: $5
Schedule of events:
1 p.m. Doors open
1:20 p.m. Welcome by Film Festival Selection Committee Chairwoman Selena Lauterer
1:30 p.m. Film Block 1 featuring “Fait” by Chris Crutchfield, “Blood and Thunder” by Tobias Strech, “No Time for Liela” by Ismail Abdelkhalek, “Baby Steps” by Malaika Handa, “Ichteopolis” by Andre Silva, “Anzina Mirage” by Matt Hedt, “A Walkthru with Kathleen Connally” by Ajit Anthony Prem, “Stuck” by Banks Helfrich, “Sylvia and George” by Cara Clark and “Scattered Flurries” by Ben Knight
2:45 p.m. Film Block 2 featuring “Balance” by Debra Sea, “Elsewhere” by Natalie Fava, “The Day We’re Not Here” by Kat Keene Hogue, “Debating Coal’s Future” by Sara Peach and Chris Carmichael, “Tree” by Marc Russo, “Global Focus” by John Antonelli, Tom Dusenbery and Will Parrinello, “Mary and Jennifer” by Todd Tinkham, “Frame” by Nic Beery and “Hello Sorry Whatever” by Ajit Anthony Prem
4:30 p.m. Film Block 3* featuring “American Short” by Todd Tinkham, “Baron” by Scott Renk, “Ash Wednesday” by Jordan Barrett, “Ballerina” by Kenneth Peterson, “House in Los Osos” by Mark Cornell, “Killing Santa” by Mike Ferrell, “How to Make a Heart Beat” by Rick Dillwood and “Empty Space” by Rob Underhill and Arawind Ragupathi
6 p.m. Award presentations
6:30 p.m. After-event party at Open Eye Cafe.
*This block contains films with adult content not recommended for children.
Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.
