FilmFest planning in full swing

This is a still from the film Empire Builder by Kris Swanberg, one of the films by women indie directors to be screened at the 2013 Ozark Foothills FilmFest. Shown is Kate Lyn Sheil holding Jude Swanberg.
This is a still from the film Empire Builder by Kris Swanberg, one of the films by women indie directors to be screened at the 2013 Ozark Foothills FilmFest. Shown is Kate Lyn Sheil holding Jude Swanberg.

Though the festival’s kickoff is still months away, planning for the 12th annual Ozark Foothills FilmFest has begun.

The fest, which recently received a Mid-America Arts Alliance Performing Arts grant, is quickly gaining the rest of the funding needed to put on the event, which is scheduled for April 3-7 in Batesville.

Adding to that funding is another major grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The film festival is one of 153 not-for-profit organizations to receive the Challenge America Fast-Track grant, this one for $10,000.

“I think it’s eight or nine consecutive years now that we’ve received [NEA] funding,” said Judy Pest, executive director of the film festival. “We’ve been extremely lucky.”

Pest estimated that as much as 60 percent of the festival’s funding comes through public grants.

In its first few years, Pest wasn’t sure the Ozark Foothills FilmFest would find as much lasting support in Batesville as it has.

“We weren’t sure it would be possible in a

community as small as Batesville,” Pest said. “It’s an unlikely concept.”

Though she admits it was “pretty touch and go” for the first four years, things stabilized, and audiences and funding grew.

“We’re not trying to be an industry-focused film festival,” Pest said. “We’re much more a community, education-based festival. We’re noncompetitive and don’t give out big prizes.”

This year’s festival will include a special “The Female Face of Indie Film” program, featuring films by eight female directors. Six of the directors plan to attend the festival, and a panel discussion will cover many of the challenges unique to women in the industry.

“People are either paying much more attention to female directors, or a lot more are getting into the industry,” Pest said. “Over the last two to three years, there has been a big focus on work by women directors, and lots of festivals have made that a focus.”

Pest and her husband, festival president and chairman Bob Pest, are in the process of selecting the final lineup of films for the 2013 festival. Though many festivals wait until just a few weeks prior to release the schedule, Pest said they like to have the schedule for the Ozark Foothills FilmFest online by February.

“For the most part, my husband makes the final decision,” Pest said. “We do a general call for entries, but we tend to get most of our films through our scouting process.”

Pest and her husband travel three or four weeks a year to look for potential film entries at festivals in Austin, Texas; and Nashville and Memphis, Tenn.

“Most filmmakers are extremely open to that kind of process and are eager to be a part of our fest,” Pest said.

The festival has historically focused on independent films from across the country. April’s festival will feature a showcase of Arkansas-made short films, as well as a screening of My Brother’s Heart, by Arkansas-based filmmakers Craig and Brent Renaud, who are the directors of the Little Rock Film Festival.

The festival will also feature a performance by the Alloy Orchestra, which composes original scores for silent films. This year, the group will perform the soundtrack to the 1927 film Underworld, directed by Josef von Sternberg.

Staff writer Emily Van Zandt can be reached at (501) 399-3688 or evanzandt@arkansasonline.com.

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