The NIU Department of Communication has announced this year’s Reality Bytes Independent Student Film Festival, which will take place Tuesday, April 5, through Thursday, April 7, on the NIU campus.
The 10th annual festival is free and open to the public, and anyone with an interest in film is encouraged to attend.
It was originally started by media studies professor Laura Vazquez to give NIU students the ability to competitively screen their work. This year’s film festival received more than 40 entries from across the country and as far away as Cuba, South Africa and Australia.
Fourteen student-created short films have been chosen for screening at this year’s festival. A mix of both documentary and fiction films will be shown, all with running times of 30 minutes or less. The films selected for screenings range from comedy and drama to experimental pieces.
Student-film screenings will take place from 9 to 10:30 p.m.in the Visual Arts Building, Room 100, on Tuesday, April 5, and Wednesday, April 6.
On Thursday, April 7, award winners will be announced as the festival welcomes special guest Mike Ramsdell, founder of Under the Hood Productions, for the screening of his documentary, “The Anatomy of Hate.”
Ramsdell directed, produced, filmed and co-edited the documentary, which reveals individual and collective ideologies of hate. He also is working on another documentary, “The Conflict Mineral Project,” which follows three men traveling to the heart of genocide in Darfur.
The screening of “The Anatomy of Hate,” along with a question-and-answer session, will take place at 7 p.m. in Room 100 of the NIU Visual Arts Building. That will be followed by a presentation of festival awards.
