Film fest offers practical experience for students
By Christa Gould, Staff Writer
May 4, 2007 | 3:16 p.m.
This week Ohio University students and members of the Athens community had the chance to experience a wide range of unique films presented by the Athens International Film and Video Festival. Twenty-three feature films and 133 competition films were shown at the Athena, the Athena Grand and Stuart’s Opera House in Nelsonville, from April 27 through May 3.
A lot of work goes into a production of this magnitude. Some Ohio University film students get a chance to gain practical experience by assisting Dr. Ruth Bradley, the Athens International Film and Video Festival director, or by taking Bradley’s Media Production and Film Festival Practicum class in the School of Film. About 40 students are enrolled in the practicum.
“When you’re involved, you’re involved in every aspect,” said Chris Iacofano, a graduate film student at OU. “You get a glimpse at everything you need to, to go on and explore this field some more.”
Students can take the practicum more than once; many students took the class last quarter and began researching films to potentially come to the film festival.
Jeff Bowers, 19, an OU sophomore studying video production, took the practicum last quarter. Bowers said they found and researched many films through Withoutabox, Inc., a media company that helps independent filmmakers find audiences and fests for their films.
“It helped a lot of people discover this film festival this year,” Iacofano said.
This year about 700 films entered the film festival competition, said Iacofano, who has been involved with the film festival since 2003, when he was an undergraduate student. Last year about 350 films entered.
“It raises the bar for the festival that much more,” Iacofano said, concerning the number of entries this year.
The films that were shown at the Athens International Film and Video Festival were selected by the Prescreening Committee, of which Iacofono is a member. They tried to find very current films and films that might have “[fallen] between the cracks.” They also look at local interest and the student population, Iacofano explained.
After the films are selected, small groups of one to three students are assigned a film that they are in charge of promoting. Students call films their baby, Bowers said.
Keith Dodge, a senior studying advertising, took the practicum last quarter and is earning internship credit this quarter. Dodge works with the students and their babies. Students submitted outlines of their promos to Keith and whoever has the best ideas for promoting their film will receive an Amazon gift certificate, Dodge said.
They’ve been promoting films through traditional press, like radio and newpapers, and through non-traditional media, like Facebook and Myspace, to reach student audiences, said Dodge.
“If it’s not on Facebook, no one’s going to know about it,” he said.
During the film festival, Iacofano will be assisting with visiting filmmakers by coordinating their stays in Athens. He’s working with several Russian filmmakers that will be in Athens for a week and a half before they go on to New York City. These filmmakers presented and answered questions about their films at the Athena this past Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
Iacofano hoped to “give [the filmmakers] as much of an experience of Southeast Ohio as [they] can” during their stay.
When the film festival ended on Thursday, students involved had to send back the films to about 150 filmmakers and will follow up with their grants to prove how their money was spent, Iacofano said.
They will also evaluate how the film festival went and how effective promotions were, Dodge said.
Students will now get to relax a bit more since the film festival is over, as well. “I’ll get to go to class and sleep more after the festival,” Dodge said.