Carolina Film & Video Festival

Wednesday

The festival kicked off Wednesday night with a screening of the uplifting documentary Sons of Lwala. The film follows the journey of two young Kenyan men as they work to build a health clinic in their native village of Lwala, while also attending medical school at Vanderbilt University. After the screening, an amusing Q&A with the filmmaker, Barry Simmons, and the film’s subject, Milton Ochieng’, left audiences feeling “enlightened and entertained,” as Festival Co-Director Rick Dillwood describes it.

Simmons attended the festival as the opening night guest of honor, and Ochieng’ Skyped in for the event. Simmons spoke of the profound and career-changing impact his film had on his own life, and added that he couldn’t be happier he took the risks he did to make Sons of Lwala. Ochieng’ challenged students to reach out to their community and find ways to get involved in something bigger than themselves—a sentiment additional presenters Dr. Cathy Hamilton, Director of the Office of Leadership and Service Learning, and Tom Martinek Jr., Assistant Director of Study Abroad and Exchange Programs for the International Programs Center, reinforced when they spoke about opportunities their offices present to UNCG students looking for ways to get involved in international service-learning.

Thursday

“I love being a part of, as well as attending, the Carolina Film & Video Festival. It's always interesting to see what films are submitted and which ones win. While I'm not a filmmaker, I feel like a winner when working on the festival and each night is a successful event. The group of people that I get to interact with all bring a different aspect to the festival, and when you put all of our creative minds together you get great evening events," says Chantel McIntyre, events coordinator for the event this year.

Thursday night included a screening of The Luck, and documentaries such as New American Soldier about immigrants who join the military to gain citizenship. Another called Sequoia: A Sailor and his Ship, a documentary about sailor Giles Kelly’s passion to return the historic presidential yacht to government possession.

These were followed by North Carolina filmmaker’s short films, two of which were Catalyst, and Citizen Pratt. which appeared to be a favorite of many, with its honest humor about a man who just wants to campaign to simply satisfy his own needs, although, in many ways he is inadequate for the position- no matter how many failed attempts he and his campaign managers make.

UNCG students also featured their films and shorts in the running, with Dear Dad, Balance, My Name is Francesca, At Dawn, and a special Screening of Jacquiline Haggerty’s silent film spoof, A Flower for Rose. The opportunity to see the creativity, lives of others, and simply be entertained by these future filmmakers is an opportunity to take next year at the festival.

Friday

A lot of people may graduate 12th grade and having nothing to show for it except a diploma and a lingering crush on a beautiful someone. Fortunately for the audience of the Carolina Film Festival, some students spend their high-school years with a lasting piece of work. The first five short films on Friday night's series were all created by teenagers. Kelly and Jeremy, two recent graduates who attended earlier installments of the festival, were eager to see the “fresh new view” of these works.

Previews are a time-honored way to begin a night at the movies and the first piece Katie was a trailer for the yet-to-be-created film of the same name. A nod to Stephen King's Christine, this trailer revolved around a hotrod car which is capable of murder. Quick takes, angry music and an impressive backdrop of an actual burning tree or forest-fire made quite an impression for Joseph Staehly. The Lemonade Stand by director Remington Dewan was a tiny piece of gold for those who treasure independent filmmaking. A child decides to boost sales of his powdered lemonade stand by slapping an 'Organic' label on his juice and, naturally, tripling the price. This short film was extremely well paced and cleverly shot while having just the right amount of cynicism.

The only documentary from the high school selection was Shawn Harris, Personal Trainer. After this, the audience could rightly say that they learned something about the world of personal training through this fast-paced documentary that caught one's attention like a really good commercial. A worthy entry from Tyler Silver and Simon Turkel. Halloween is something which draws out the child in all of us and the next piece Trick or Treat brought this holiday and its candy-hungry children.

to life. Cameron's mother bakes fresh candy for all the children in the neighborhood and her son can only have some if there are leftovers, which never happens. The boy attempts to steal some of the candy for himself, but in a sudden pivot to the morality of a Christmas movie, he ends up giving the last piece to a dour young girl who isn't allowed to celebrate Halloween. J. David Ruby's short film suggests a real talent.
The final piece selected from high school submissions was Happy Deathday by Elizabeth Callahan. What if you could simply drive to an office park, fill out paperwork and then learn down to the day when you would die? People start counting birthdays in reverse, as in having three candles on your cake when you are three years until your deathday. Ghastly enough, but what happens when you get someone else's folder and you plan your life around the wrong deathday? The quality of the work produced by these young people was such that one must hope that four years of film school will not ruin them. Some of these were better movies than many a professional entry.