Largest student festival, MovieFest, starts Thursday; films shown April 9

The world’s largest student festival, MovieFest, is coming to IU thanks to a student collaboration with a host of campus organizations and local sponsors.

The festival provides students with cameras and laptops for free so they can create their own 5-minute films within a week, said senior Jack Shannon.

“Just eight years ago, Campus MovieFest was a student organization at Emory University that was established to promote school spirit,” said Brandon Chong, director of educational programs for Campus MovieFest since 2007. “Now we tour the nation’s top universities from USC in LA to Emerson College in Boston.”

Chong said this was the group’s first time touring through the Midwest, with IU being one of its first stops. He added that interest in IU was boosted through the efforts of Shannon and the Union Board.

Shannon, a business student with an interest in film, said he contacted Campus MovieFest after he heard about it this summer from a friend.

The prizes for the winning student team range from more than $2,000 in door prizes to iPods to Final Cut Studio software, according to a press release for the event.

Shannon said his organization, Blooming Artists Agency, is a student-run production and management company that grants students of all backgrounds the opportunity to create high-quality productions. The organization contacted Campus MovieFest to get the wheels turning for its visit to IU.

He said Blooming Artists Agency was able to conduct a successful fundraising campaign in January to raise money to host Campus MovieFest at IU once he confirmed it would be making the stop.

“We had to rent out the Buskirk-Chumley Theater,” Shannon said. “Once the winners are selected for this contest, then it will become a red-carpet affair with paparazzi and everything else, like a real star-studded event at the theater. Friends can see their peers’ work on a big screen.”

The final event will be free and open to the public at 7 p.m. April 9 at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, according to a press release.

Senior Audree Notoras, films director of Union Board, said she is excited for the turnout of the final event. She said so far 50 two-person student teams have signed up to submit work to the contest.

“The finale event should be awesome. In addition to all the giveaways, we’re working on having live music,” Notoras said. “This will be a great learning experience for students who are involved. Students can do something creative that they’ve never done before.”

Shannon said he believes IU students have a lot to offer to this project.

“There is such a great artists’ hub here in Bloomington,” he said. “There are a lot of talented students here looking for creative outlets. This is a great opportunity for students to get involved and express themselves.”

Event sponsors included are the Blooming Artists Agency, Union Board, Residence Hall Association, Office of the Provost, IU Hollywood Hoosiers, Hoosier Eye Doctor, Best Buy and the IU College of Arts and Sciences.

Shannon also said he believes in the potential of the work that will be submitted. The outcome of Campus MovieFest might also be a way to promote campus school spirit, which Chong said was the original mission of the organization.

“Just because IU may not have the name or prestige that other schools do doesn’t mean we can’t compete,” he said. “Our work is right up there with the best students at NYU or UCLA. IU students have so much
to offer.”