After more than a year of networking, planning and putting in to place every last detail, the Auburn University New Media Club and Film Society will host The Auburn Indie: Independent Student Film Festival.
Though this is the festival's first year running, submissions were received from almost every major state, the United Kingdom, Canada and some Asian territories.
The group promoted the event by posting about it in as many media outlets as they could, said Alessio Summerfield, president of the New Media Club.
"The minute that our affiliate relations officer posted up on Reddit about the film festival, I got five submissions an hour for at least 14 hours from all over the place," Summerfield said.
One of the goals for the event was that it be completely operated by students, and feature only student-made films.
"We made it a student-only film festival which is kind of a common thing on college campuses," said Brock Hanson, vice president of the New Media Club. "Just to enter it's a pre-requisite that you made it while you were in college."
The only exception to the student exclusivity is a feature film that will screen in Langdon Hall at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 13, before the festival begins. Pre-sale tickets for the screening will be available for $10 at www.chrismillis.com or www.aunewmediaclub.com and will also be sold at the door for $12. There will be no admission charge to the actual film festival.
"Small Apartments," which is based off a novel that was written in three days by author Chris Millis, will serve as the feature film. The film is packed with dark humor and a stacked cast, but is rated R and not recommended for minors. Millis, who is also a guest judge for the festival, will be present after the screening for a Q and A session.
The festival will begin at 7:30 p.m., is open to the public of all ages, and with 26 short films promises a wide range of entertainment.
"One thing that I think is going to be fun is that we have everything from drama to comedy," Hanson said. "We even have a couple of animation ones in there too and some claymation stuff that will be really cool. Hopefully it'll keep things really interesting because there are so many different types of different genres represented."
Other than prize money for first, second and third place, which was donated by New Plains Press and having all paper materials printed for free by Spencer Printing, the film festival has been put on without any sort of budget, according to Summerfield.
"We've done nothing except collect money from officers to print T-shirts for the staff," Summerfield said. "We've not spent a dime on this festival, it's almost exclusively been a networking exercise. New Media Club has never accepted dues, we don't have any money. We're kind of just doing this."
After receiving more than 70 submissions on a national and international basis and drawing in a recognized guest judge, one of the last remaining goals for members of the New Media Club is to see the event live on.
"Essentially, I think the two big words that we've been using are just inspire and continue. (That is) what we want to try to pull from this thing," Summerfield said.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
