Annual Union Board student film festival features 19 films this weekend

Student filmmakers will be able to showcase their talents tonight and Friday night at the Union Board's fifth annual Student Film Festival. The event begins at 8 p.m. in the Whittenberger Auditorium of the Indiana Memorial Union both nights.\nThe event, free for IU students or $2 for nonstudents, will feature 19 films of all types: comedy, mystery, horror, science fiction, drama and artistic movies, Union Board Films Director and junior Dash Voorhees said.\nVoorhees said the film festival, which in the past has drawn a crowd of 300, will have five judges, including a past \nwinner and a communication and culture instructor. Winners in categories of judges' choice and best cinematography will receive a $1,000 gift certificate to IU Bookstores and Final Cut Studio Pro editing software, respectively, for first and second place.\nAn audience choice award will also be given.\nThe student film festival serves as a stepping stone for students showing their work. \nJunior Michael Diamond said his short film, "Amelia's Canon," which he produced, will serve as a calling card for other projects. This is Diamond's first year entering the festival, but he said he's been making films his whole life and is hoping to send this short film to other festivals.\nDiamond said he spent a couple of months planning, filming and editing his film, which is just less than 30 minutes long. \n"I'm definitely passionate about it and I can only see myself doing one thing," Diamond said. "It's great to bring together a project from pre-production stages to all the way through. Even if nothing happens, you meet people you can work with in the future."\nAlthough junior Adam Hoelzel helped direct Diamond's film, his main project was writing and directing a short film titled "Lock and Key" for the festival. \n"In this stage of production, it's usually one guy doing everything," he said. "It doesn't have a straight beginning, middle and end. It's supposed to be more fun, as a showcase of style and themes of the 1940s."\nHoelzel said he's been making films since middle school. \n"I was really attracted to it for as long as I can remember," he said. "The majority of my time has gone into writing something, editing something or making something."\nStudents like Diamond and Hoelzel said the process involves planning out the story, getting actors to volunteer, shooting and finally editing and adding sound effects and music to the films. Both said they held auditions at the theater school to find students willing to act for something to add to their resume. \n"It's like a collaboration," Diamond explained. "They need stuff for their resume as much as you do."\nIn the future, both Diamond and Hoelzel said they hope to pursue filmmaking as a career. However, they say they recognize the difficulty of breaking in to the industry.\n"The entertainment industry is probably the least structured of any job market there is," Hoelzel said. \nDiamond agreed. \n"I'd like to (do filmmaking as a career), but it's obviously very difficult. And you realize you're not going to make it right away," he said. "But if you're passionate about it and put yourself in the right position things are going to happen."\nVoorhees encourages everyone to come to the event.\n"Hopefully people will come out and support local directors and producers," he said. "We have all genres and even music videos."\nAll films had to be submitted previous to the event and were edited for content, Voorhees said. Each night of films is expected to last one and half hours, but each film can be anywhere from two to 30 minutes long.\n"It's an excellent opportunity to give student a chance to share their films," he said. "We're happy to do it. We'll be doing it again next year"