What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/1426238
8 WHAT'S UP! NOVEMBER 7-13, 2021 COVER STORY Best Of Both Worlds Fayetteville Film Fest goes live and online LARA JO HIGHTOWER NWA Democrat-Gazette T he decision to take the 2020 Fayetteville Film Fest online only was a tough one, says Executive Director Russell Sharman, but the experience left organizers with some innovative ways to make the 2021 event more accessible and exciting. "It was actually a huge success — we had a lot of great programming in terms of streaming content," says Sharman. "We were able to do a lot of really cool panels and Q-and-As that we might not normally get to do, with folks who might not have made the trip otherwise. So we're kind of bringing that forward, trying to find the best that we learned from that experience and apply it to this year — but to also bring back some of that in-person excitement." The result: a hybrid event, with live films viewed in downtown Fayetteville or, as the event's publicity materials say, "streaming anywhere in the galaxy." On the schedule are 10 narrative and documentary features and more than 40 short films. Panel discussions include "Films for Change," a "discussion with filmmakers featured in this year's festival whose films inspire or focus on change," and "Fix It Before Post," a panel intended to "give participants the opportunity to hear from post-production experts on best practices to help you have successful post-production." Also generating a lot of excitement is the Fayetteville Film Fest Micheaux Award and Film Lab, designed, according to the organization's website, "to support and encourage creation and authorship of Arkansas-based projects from Black, Indigenous and filmmakers of color through two initiatives: The Micheaux Award, which will distribute funds to BIPOC filmmakers in two cycles throughout the year; and The Film Lab, which facilitates year-round educational and workshop opportunities to strengthen the Arkansas-based BIPOC film community." "Part of the mission of the organization has always been to support local filmmaking, not just independent cinema in general," says Sharman. "And that means not only wanting to support filmmakers in Northwest Arkansas, specifically, but also the whole state of Arkansas." The Micheaux Award and Film Lab started shortly before covid-19, says Sharman, and carry cash awards of up to $1,500 per project. Educational events are also part of this program. "We started it specifically to support and encourage filmmakers of color with an historical connection to Arkansas," Sharman explains. "So maybe they live here, maybe they work here, maybe their parents are from here, maybe they're Native American and their heritage has some connection to the land — we want to support anyone with that kind of Arkansas tie." This will be the fourth year the organization also hands out another major award: the Fayetteville Film Prize, sponsored by Rockwell Studios. "That's an opportunity for everyone to pitch an idea for a short film, and the winner gets $2,000 to help them make their film — and then we screen their film the following year," Sharman explains. "So we actually have two Fayetteville Film Prize screenings this year, because covid-19 not only made it difficult for us to have a festival, it made it difficult for filmmakers to make their films." On Nov. 13 at 5 p.m., those two films — "Glass Cages," directed by Johanna Orwiler, and "Good Gorgeous Hell," directed by Reed Carson, will be viewed, and the 2021 Fayetteville Film Prize Pitch Contest winner will be announced. The Fayetteville Film Festival was founded 13 years ago when a group of film lovers started a grass roots effort to offer more opportunities for Northwest Arkansans to see independent filmmaking. As film production in Arkansas has grown, so has the event, says Sharman, and he hopes there's even more to mine from the industry. "We have tried to keep pace with the way the industry has expanded in the region and to stay as local as possible, This year, the Fayetteville Film Fest will go hybrid, with many events held live and in-person and some, like the movie "Club of Angels," offered online only. The movie is part culinary confection, part thriller, directed by Angelo Defanti, that tells the story of a group of friends who meet a mysterious chef that may be poisoning them — yet they continue enjoying his dinners. (Courtesy Photo)