The 10th anniversary celebration of the Geneva Film Festival will be held the second weekend in March, featuring a mix of independent films.
Films will screen at two venues: Penrose Brewing and Playhouse 38, both located on Stevens Street in Geneva. Comedy, documentary, science fiction, student films, musical shorts and animation are all part of this year’s slate of films, said Chris Bennett, one of the central planners of the festival. He also serves a film judge and moderator for the Filmmakers’ Forum.
Several of the filmmakers will be on hand during the festival to talk about their films prior to screenings, said Kelsey Rankin, marketing coordinator of the Geneva Film Festival.
The annual Filmmakers’ Forum will be 8:30-11 a.m. March 9 at Craft Urban restaurant, 211 James St., Geneva. Filmmakers, actors and producers will be on hand to discuss the filmmaking process. The event is free to anyone who wishes to attend, she said.
“It’s a really popular event,” she said. “It’s a moderated discussion and an open forum. It’s a chance to ask questions of the filmmakers and a chance to hear about the process of making a film … what are some of the challenges of making a film. They tell their unique stories about making a film and open it up for questions.”
Craft Urban is also hosting the annual It’s a Wrap closing celebration at 9:30 p.m. March 10. A photo booth and music are planned and a cash bar will be available.
There are 32 films in the film festival. Tickets are grouped by block, Bennett said, and each block is about 90 minutes to two hours long and filled with either short films or a full-length film.
There will also be films made by recipients of the Emerging Cinematographers Award sponsored by the International Cinematographers Guild, he said.
Rankin thinks that audiences will be excited to see several of the films, she said.
“There are so many good ones this year,” she said. “For history buffs out there, we’ve got a World War II documentary called ‘Angels of the Sky,’ talking about pilots that were taken prisoners of war and it’s told by the actual soldiers themselves. It’s a first-hand account of a piece of history.”
Another is a narrative feature film called “Nowhere Mind” by Geneva native Ben Nissen, she said.
“It’s a dark, psychological thriller about meditation and what happens to the mind,” she said.
She also said the short films submitted to the festival are always fun to watch.
“You can come to a block of screenings for an hour and a half and you get to see five or six films,” she said. “They range from animal to some musical shorts to some really creative, thought-provoking stories.”
There are quite a few international films this year, Bennett said.
“We have films that are being featured from nine countries,” he said. “It truly is an international film festival. We have three judges for every film and we set the bar high. We keep it a high quality film festival.”
Those countries include Belgium, United Kingdom, India, Spain, Switzerland, Egypt, Russia, Canada and the United States.
People should take a chance on the Geneva Film Festival because it’s a unique opportunity to see independent films you’re not going to see anywhere else, Rankin said.
Bennett agreed.
“The Geneva Film Festival, because it’s been around for a decade, has a lot of recognition. That’s a notable thing,” he said. “The film festival also serves as a stepping stone for people looking to build up to some of the bigger film festivals.”
Annie Alleman is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
Geneva Film Festival
When: March 9-10
Where: Playhouse 38, 321 Stevens St., Suite P; and Penrose Brewing Company, 509 Stevens St.
Tickets: $8-$10
Information: www.genevafilmfestival.org
