Tenth annual filmfest starts Monday

Kelly Richardson

When watching movies, some people don’t think about anyone beyond the pretty faces on the screen.

But it’s the people behind the scenes who will be honored April 12-15 at the 10th annual Western Film and Video Festival.

The festival was started 10 years ago by Cory Lash, an associate professor of film and video production. He started it after seeing other film festivals. He said he thought a similar event should be brought to Western students.

“The main reason was that there was no outlet for film students besides showing their projects in class,” he said.

Students have taken advantage of this outlet, too. There are more than 30 students entered in the festival this year, and usually 30 to 40 students have entered the festival each year since its creation. Any student, regardless of major, can enter the festival.

The festival has two sections: competition and screening of films. Louisville senior Cassandra Arza entered the competition part of the festival for the first time this year.

“I suppose it’s a bit of a climax for the hard work put into the project,” she said.

Lexington senior Brad Hilton, Shelbyville senior Jonathon Klingenfus and Louisville seniors Bradford Woods and Matt Hilton entered two films in the festival. This is the first time entering the festival for all of them except for Matt Hilton, who entered a film for screening last year.

“I basically entered so that I could have an audience see my work and so that my peers could critique it,” Brad Hilton said.

The festival consists of four categories and films and videos are sent to professional judges across the country and scored.

The festival will include screenings of independent and student short films and the premiere screening of an independent film “Rush Night.” There will also be seminars and an award ceremony.

The screenings will take place at 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and the seminars will take place at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday.

The festival will be held in Mass Media and Technology Hall.

Reach Kelly Richardson at [email protected].