Film aficionados will be in full force this weekend in Chapel Hill as the town plays host to the Blue Sky Film Festival beginning Friday.
The festival, which was created by local filmmaker Nic Beery, is a chance for local and international filmmakers to showcase their work. Films will be shown at The Lumina Theatre in Chapel Hill’s Southern Village from Friday to Sunday.
“We are featuring about 25 films—short and feature length,” Beery said. “They range from comedy to drama to documentary-style, so there is something there for everyone.”
Beery, who is the co-founder of the Carrboro Film Festival, has produced and directed films that have appeared worldwide, including at the Cannes Film Festival. He said he used this knowledge to help him promote the Blue Sky Film Festival.
“We ended up getting about 200 film submissions and had to narrow it down to 25, which was very hard,” said Beery. Submissions came from local spots as well as Los Angeles, New York, Canada and the United Kingdom.
Beery said he and the other festival organizers chose the films that would fit best with the festival’s overall theme: “Independent, Edgy, Incredible.”
“When it came down to choosing between two films, we picked the one that would apply to the biggest audience. We want to make this festival as broad as possible,” Beery said.
North Carolina resident Cara Biasucci, whose film, “A Labor of Love,” tells the story of three generations of a lobster-fishing family in Maine, said it was great that she was selected to showcase her work at the festival.
“I love sharing the stories I tell, and to have a chance to do that in my own backyard is great,” she said.
Biasucci, who is also a visiting lecturer in the communications department at UNC, will be among the filmmakers present at the festival, which was part of Beery’s plan to make the festival as open as possible.
“Tickets are cheap, the location is very accessible, and the theater is, in my opinion, the nicest theater in Chapel Hill,” Beery said.
The Lumina Theatre will use its two movie screens for the festival this weekend. Tickets can be purchased at the theater.
There will also be a series of workshops throughout the weekend, including a Film Production workshop by producer Will Battersby.
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