Lights! Camera! Action!

Cannes. Sundance. Tribeca.

Those names are synonymous with famous film festivals.

Will Fayetteville be next?

Jason Suel, founding member of the Fayetteville Film Fest and this year's secretary and volunteer/hospitality chairman, sure hopes so.

"We have consistently done an excellent job of raising the awareness of independent film in Northwest Arkansas," he says. "Now, we want to be a place where filmmakers know they can come, screen their film, and possibly be picked up for distribution by one of the visiting distribution companies in attendance."

The Fayetteville Film Fest, which runs from Tuesday through Sept. 10, has some exciting surprises up its sleeve, including its new name. But it maintains the core concept of the first festival seven years ago, when it was known as the 540 Film Fest.

"It was supposed to be a one-off," remembers Suel. "It was organized by a group of people who wanted to see a film festival in Northwest Arkansas. At the end of it, more than a few of us said, 'This is awesome!'

"There's a lot happening in terms of performance and visual arts, but film as an art wasn't being showcased as much. So we said, 'Why not do this every fall?'"

The organization regrouped and, for the next five years, the Seedling Film Association produced the Offshoot Film Festival. Along the way, the quantity and quality of the film submissions grew. The audiences grew, too, but not as fast as some thought they should have.

"What I knew, just from attending as an audience member last year, was that the festival that they were putting on was world class," says Morgan Hicks, director of education and program development at TheatreSquared. "They've got amazing films and great programming, and you can have a wonderful audience experience. But it just felt like it was a really well-kept secret, like not a lot of people knew it was happening. And that kind of broke my heart."

Hicks said when she found out that one of last year's submissions -- a short film titled "Day One"-- wound up with a 2015 Oscar nomination, she knew this was an event that had to be publicized more.

"I have had too many conversations with people that love movies and independent films. I knew that those people didn't know about the festival or they would have been in the theater watching this great film."

In January, the festival's board decided on its third -- and final -- name change.

"We wanted it to be something tangible, that the community could invest in," explains Suel. "We have been amazed at the support that has poured forth from sponsors [and] the community. We anticipated a little bit of that, but the response [to the name change] has really blown us away."

Ryan Schwartzman, who was born in Arkansas and is a Fayetteville High School graduate, and wife Jennica Schwartzman, a filmmaking/acting/producing duo based in Los Angeles, agree that Fayetteville is ready to be a heavy-hitter in the film festival world. The two submitted their first film, "Dim Bulbs: Bed Heads," in 2011 and have submitted a project in every year since.

"Because of the way the [Fayetteville Film Fest] is designed, it's very community oriented and less like a business experience," Jennica says. "I've been to a lot of film festivals, and there aren't as many that feel like this. It's just real people that are sweet and genuine. It's small, but it's great."

In fact, the couple found Fayetteville to be so welcoming, they have returned to make multiple films in the area.

"We've done three films [in Northwest Arkansas]: Two that my husband and I wrote and produced ourselves and [another] that some of our Los Angeles crew brought," she explains. The films, which include "Gordon Family Tree" and "Parker's Anchor," were shot in a variety of locations, including Fayetteville, Winslow, West Fork and Johnson.

Jennica credits the Fayetteville Film Fest, in part, for opening the door and making it easier to shoot their projects here.

"We had a relationship with local businesses because [they] were sponsors of the fest, so we actually made sure to patronize those places and get to know them. Having a relationship with the business community makes it possible to make our types of films that are smaller and a little more people oriented with not as much money in the budget.

"The people, the businesses ... their incredible generosity. Honestly, that's the first thing we noticed, along with the beauty," she says. "[Fayetteville has] got that beautiful, small-town feel.

"I told [a friend], 'It's very film-friendly, so if you ever need help in finding ways to film efficiently, we can introduce you to community members and business owners who are interested in having films made there.'

"We proved it [was] possible, but also we proved it was one of our favorite ways to make movies."

Hicks says that this year promises to be the most ambitious festival yet.

"This is an event that has a lot of different moving parts. We have two different locations where screenings are happening. We're also going to have a VIP lounge and a street party we're doing Thursday night from 6-8 p.m., right in front of Center Street -- a red carpet party with The Silvershakers playing!"

Hicks says that approximately 50 people affiliated with the films in the festival -- including directors, actors and producers -- will be in attendance, and audience Q & As are scheduled throughout the weekend.

Hicks is also excited about the short films that feature high school and University of Arkansas connections.

"We're really trying to celebrate the emerging filmmakers. That doesn't happen at a lot of film festivals. We're able to engage with the filmmaking programs at the U of A and JBU and UCA to showcase their films [on Thursday, starting at 4 p.m.]. And on Wednesday [starting at 3 p.m.], we have a 90-minute block of short films that were created by high school students all over the region. [They] are also getting the opportunity to have a free workshop with a filmmaker."

Also new this year is a purposeful effort to include projects that have specific Arkansas connections.

"One of the things that we really want to do as we build our new mission with the new brand is connect with the filmmakers in our state," Hicks says. "This year, we have ... the Arkansas Connection category. The film either needs to have been shot in Arkansas or have a principle or subject that's connected to Arkansas." Hicks says that approximately 35 of this year's 55 festival films have an Arkansas connection.

Hicks is excited for the festival as a new board member as well as someone with a deep appreciation of the art. "What I love about film festivals is that as a film lover, I don't just love one kind of film. I like all kinds of different films. With the Film Fest, you have an opportunity to take in such a variety of audience experiences. You can watch amazingly powerful documentaries on the same day you can watch a hilarious short film on the same day that you can watch a beautiful animated film or a narrative film."

"The Northwest Arkansas artistic community is thriving," says Suel. "My personal hope is that, for at least one week of the year, the art of independent filmmaking can carry the torch."

NAN What's Up on 09/02/2016