The University of North Alabama Department of Cinematic Arts and Theatre will host the 28th George Lindsey Film this year from Feb. 27 through March 1. The festival will host independent filmmakers from UNA and around the world.
The festival is the longest-running film festival in the state of Alabama, signifying its significance to the independent film industry, and to the CAT Department, according to Department Chair Michael Curtis Johnson.
“This is a University-level event,” said Johnson. “The support comes kinda directly from the President [of the University] and the students who have helped make it happen year in and year out. It’s rare to have a festival that runs this long, and sometimes people don’t see the impact that it has directly.”
Johnson said that the film festival is primarily focused on UNA.
“Students in the CAT Department work as volunteers,” Johnson said. “They do assignments throughout the school year that are related directly with the festival. The event is really sort of about the UNA experience more than anything.”
The festival’s impact reaches students outside of the CAT Department as well. Johnson said that the festival will have events for students of other majors as well, such as the Music Supervision Panel scheduled for Feb. 28. The panel will be a collaborative event between CAT and the UNA Department of Entertainment Industries.
Other UNA departments will be involved with the festival as well, such as The Department of Visual Arts and Design and the Department of English.
At least two programs within the VAD Department will be involved with the festival. There will be events held in collaboration with the Fashion Merchandising and Design program, as well as the Culinary Arts program.
Johnson said that films should open the audience members up to the ideas and messages that the filmmakers try to convey.
“It’s a very uniquely human experience,” said Johnson. “People need to take some time and appreciate art, because we live in a very imperfect world and sometimes the only sustenance for dealing with that is knowing that other people feel the same way you do.”
Johnson continued to say that it is just as important to appreciate art from people with differing worldviews as well.
The festival will feature films from several CAT students at UNA. One of these students is senior CAT student Trevor Peck.
“I just think it’s a fun time,” said Peck, who will be showing two of his own films at the festival. “I get a lot of enjoyment out of watching things, and meeting the people who made them.”
Peck said that the community aspect of the festival stands out to him. The process of personal involvement in making an independent film shows the amount of care each filmmaker has for their work, he said.
