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by LAURA TABOR
Lifestyles Reporter
The seemingly tranquil scene on the movie screen erupts into a sequence of shooting and explosions, causing a room full of students to gasp and begin chattering.
Someone said, “They must have had a ridiculous budget for this.”
The students aren’t watching a blockbuster for fun; they are members of the Appalachian State University Film Club, and are analyzing submissions to this year’s Open APPerture Short Film Festival.
The festival begins March 26, in I.G. Greer Auditorium at 7 p.m.
The showings are about two hours long, and will occur Thursday and Friday evenings, and all afternoon Saturday.
Each showing is $2, or $5 for the entire 10-hour festival.
The evolution of this festival began last fall, when members of the Film Club began accepting submissions and choosing a theme.
“We had
a bunch of ideas up on the board, and were arguing,” Melissa M. Raver,
sophomore English major and secretary of the Film Club, said. “It came
down to what would make good advertising and how we could make themed
trailers to show in I.G. Greer.”
Somewhat in honor of Darwin’s Bicentennial, the club chose “The Evolution of Film” and began advertising.
To date,
the club has about 100 submissions, which they have to weed through to
choose which will appear in the final showings to be judged.
“We have
submissions from all over the U.S. and beyond, like Spain and Ireland,”
Sam R. Stringfield, senior broadcasting major and president of the
club, said. “We make a point to watch every submission all the way
through, no matter what we think of the first 30 seconds.”
The submissions come in through withoutabox.com, a Web site that allows filmmakers to find festivals for their work.
The
festival is an annual event, but this year there will be a Thursday
showing for the first time and announcers between films, similar to the
Academy Awards.
The showings will each have various kinds of films and will not be limited to any particular genre.
“There
are a plethora of films people have yet to discover,” Chad C.
Dehartchuck, a sophomore political science major and vice president of
the club, said. “Be prepared to be entertained.”
The event is open to the public, but the club has rated the festival as the equivalent of an “R” rating.
After
the final showing, around 8 p.m. Saturday, March 28, there will be an
awards ceremony in the Plemmons Student Union Solarium.
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