The Savannah Film Festival ended on Nov. 2 after a week filled with everything cinema. Celebrities buzzed through the streets, while the latest and greatest films screened inside the Trustees and Lucas theaters. Overall, participants views of the film festival were positive, most citing increases in student involvement, relevance of panel discussions and quality of the screening experience as improvements from past years.
Students here, students there, students everywhere
With any big event, there is always a certain level of chaos, but with help from hundreds of student volunteers the festival stayed organized and under control.
“It ran very smoothly from my eyes,” said Chelsea Bennington, a fourth-year performing arts student. “We had some great volunteers who had wonderful initiative and drive to help out.”
“I felt like there was more student participation this year than prior years, and that’s really exciting,” said Michael Chaney, a film professor. At any given panel, students made up about 90 percent of the attendees and each event was marked with student volunteers in black and red T-shirts.
Every single day, there were a plethora of events to engage students with other professionals. From morning coffee talks with film journalists and directors, to the panels, Q&A forums and evening receptions, students were allowed full access to members of the industry.
However, because there were so many events scheduled throughout the span of one day, it’s easy to miss potentially beneficial talks targeted toward specific majors. Most upperclassmen eventually get the drill, but for new students it can often be difficult to choose which events carry the most weight
Chaney believes “there are a lot of opportunities that freshman or sophomores are missing because they might be unaware of it.”
Panels
Last minute ticket buyers rushed to the box office each day with the hope to purchase the few tickets left. Rush lines formed outside the Gutstein Gallery, where several sold out panels were held.
“The panels were really terrific this year; they allowed the students to engage with the guests really well,” said Chaney. “That was probably my favorite part.”
Panel discussions ranged from cinematic storytelling, to horror filmmaking, transformative technology and transmedia, three-dimensional art, actors’ perspective on filmmaking and the possibilities certain softwares allow for fim production, direction and editing.
“I’ve enjoyed the panels the last three years, they’ve been great, but something about this year was really different,” said Bennington. “There was a different energy for me.”
Shining Stars
This year the festival boasted honorees Abigail Breslin, Jeremy Irons, Alexander Payne and Natalie Dormer. Payne received the Outstanding Achievement in Cinema Award, Irons received the Lifetime Achievement Award, while Natalie Dormer and Abigail Breslin received Discovery Awards.
Many of the stars participated in panel discussions and workshops with performing arts majors. Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley, Candice Accola and Phoebe Tonkin from “The Vampire Diaries” and Zach Gilford from “Friday Night Lights,” and his wife, Kiele Sanchez Gilford, “The Glades,” gave acting advice to students during the festival.
“As a performing arts major, I’ve got to see some great Q&A [forums] that different actors and casting agents did,” said Bennington.
Screenings
On Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, the Lucas Theater and the Trustees Theater showed different films at 7 and 8 p.m., giving moviegoers more options. Allowing these multiple opportunities for films that encompassed the genre’s range was an innovation unique to this year’s screenings. Chaney said that “alternative evening screenings” were “one of the things…that was really successful.”
Special screenings played every night, bringing in locals and students alike. The Directors Choice film “About Time” turned out to be one of the best films, according to students Laura Minto and Bennington.
“I didn’t see anybody walk out of the theater after it was revealed what was playing,” said Bennington.
The week drew to a close with “August: Osage County” on Nov. 2.
“They did not leave the festival on a happy note exactly. That might have been the only [negative] critique,” said Minto. “Something lighthearted at the end might have been better.”
But as a whole the 2013 Savannah Film Festival proved another great year, inviting the community to come together to celebrate cinema.
