After a filmmaker yells “lights, camera, action” for the last time, after the final masterpiece has been edited to perfection, film festivals provide the venues for showcasing the end result.
The annual Carolina Film and Video Festival, hosted by the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, features categories that include films made by artists in a variety of fields. While there is a UNC-G-specific category, there are also opportunities for student and local filmmakers to screen their films for their peers as well as the general public.
“Any time, as a student, you have an opportunity for your work to be seen, it’s a tremendous opportunity,” Marsha Orgeron, director of the film studies program, said. “This is a pretty established festival. Any time people outside of your little universe can see what you’re working on, you have a chance to make connections with other people, to have people get interested in what you’re doing.
“There is a really impressive circuit now of small film festivals happening all over the country and all over the world, and once you get in one festival, typically it will build your confidence to get in other festivals, and that’s the way a lot of people start their film and video careers.”
The categories include documentary, narrative, North Carolina-specific and experimental animation.
According to Kimberlianne Podlas, assistant professor in the Department of Broadcasting and Cinema at UNC-G and director of the festival, the genres vary within each category. However, preference will be given to shorter films, Podlas said, because more shorter films can be shown in a given time frame.
Podlas said the department has promoted the festival as one with both independent and student categories rather than a North Carolina festival featuring UNC-G students’ work.
“Last year we had more independent than student filmmakers, and a lot of those were in documentaries, and that’s what throws it off,” Podlas said. “In total, probably about 40 percent of our entries are from students generally across the United States because you’re including any student who’s an undergrad in any program as well as all the graduate students in all film and video programs throughout the U.S.”
There is a separate category for UNC-G students, apart from the general student category.
“We don’t combine the UNC-G student category with the general student category in part because we still want to make sure that UNC-G students still have the opportunity to have their work shown. Because we do have some really good filmmakers, we don’t want to be in a position where the film festival takes part in North Carolina at UNC-G, and a UNC-G person wins.”
The rewards of winning in a category range from money to film supplied by Kodak. Orgeron said because the opportunities and the positive connotations of participating in a festival like this one are vast, she hopes students from N.C. State will submit entries to the festival.
“We’ve always been historically a science and technology campus, and obviously there is technology in video production, but the humanities and arts have always had to fight for a place at N.C. State,” Orgeron said. “Especially when our students are able to have a presence, it’s great for N.C. State. It’s great for the humanities. It’s great for the film studies program. I would encourage anyone to go for it.”
