Culture
Rio Grande To Host Film Festival
By: Annette Brown Ward
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The University of Rio Grande/Rio Grande Community College will host a film festival on Saturday, April 14 in the Berry Fine and Performing Arts Center.
The festival, which will begin at 7 p.m., will feature short films made by Rio Grande students, faculty members and area residents.
Immediately following the films, the cult movie classic, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, will be shown. Those attending are invited to dress up as characters from the movie.
The film festival will be a first for Rio Grande, and faculty member Benjy Davies explained that the evening will feature numerous creative projects by students and faculty members.
One of the selections, for example, is a 20-minute film titled Amateur Survivor. This piece, by student Robert Griffith of Jackson, is a humorous look at Griffith attempting to “survive” for three days outside.
The festival will feature different styles of films, including one short claymation clip by Rio Grande faculty member Jim Allen. Some animated films will also be included during the evening.
Davies is a member of the Finer Things Club at Rio Grande, and the club has been sponsoring several creative and entertaining special events on campus throughout the year. Short films have been made of several of the club's projects, and they will be shown during the film festival.
For example, the club members celebrated National Gorilla Suit Day earlier this year, and Davies wore a gorilla suit around campus. Ryan Griffith filmed Davies that day and put together a film that will be shown during the festival.
“It’s a really fun film,” said Davies.
Another Finer Things Club project included 45 second-grade students from Rio Grande Elementary School. The students raked leaves into piles on the main Campus Green in the fall and the piles were placed into a polka dot pattern.
Time-lapse photography was taken of the students raking the leaves into the piles and then moving the piles around on the Campus Green. The piles were then left on the Campus Green for a few weeks before they all disappeared. The photographs were turned into a film titled Fade, and it will be another one of the pieces shown during the festival.
Students and area residents still have time to submit films. Anyone interested should contact Davies for more information at bdavies@rio.edu.