By TIMOTHY KENNEDY
The Utah Student Film Collective will feature “The Open Student Film Festival” Tuesday at 7:30 at Wrapsody (formerly known as The Station) as a venue for moviemakers who want to exhibit their material but do not have an outlet to do so.
The film festival will feature movies made by BYU students, high school students and community members. The films will range from documentaries to short movies to “abstract, formalistic” movie videos.
The festival is the brainchild of The Utah Film Collective, a group of BYU students dedicated to the promotion and education of the art of film.
Melissa Schneider, a junior from Edmonton, Alberta, majoring in film, and one of the organizers of The Open Student Film Festival explained how the idea of a student film festival began.
“A couple of months ago a group of friends were together watching important movies and discussing them,” she said.
In the process of discussing movies the group decided to “branch out and make our own horror film one Saturday. We went up to Provo Canyon and improvised the story and props. Afterwards we decided that students needed a way to show their films” Schneider said. In the process the first, informal Open Student Film Festival was born.
“Sarah Holyoak (one of the students) said her friend had a large studio apartment and would be willing to host a film festival. So we did it.” said Robert Caldwell, a junior from Hickory North Carolina, majoring in film.
“The first film festival was so successful that we went ahead and formed the Utah Student Film Collective to further the study of film” said Caldwell. “We realized we could start something much bigger so we organized the Open Student Film Festival.”
In order to expand their goals The Utah Student Film Collective has initiated contact with schools in New York and California to help continue film education and promotion. The group is also in the process of creating their own Web Page that will help them to further their goals.
Ian Puente, a junior from Sacramento Ca., majoring in film and one of the founders of the Collective hopes this film festival will encourage movie makers to continue in their pursuits.
“We’re really excited to give others the opportunity to show their movies. If that happens more people will be willing to create their own movies.”
