Film fans hoping to escape the hot weather are in luck, as the Athens International Film and Video Festival returns to the Athena Cinema on Friday.
“The film festival is a great way for Arts for Ohio and the Athena Cinema to bring in artistic talent and creativity from around the town and from around the world,” said Claire Berlin, manager of communications and marketing for the College of Fine Arts. “It’s beneficial for the community and it allows people to see all these great movies that they may not have gotten the chance to see.”
There will be a total of 65 entries that will be showcased during the festival, most of which will be short films divided into sections such as “New/Old Technologies: Seven Shorts” and “Everyday Heroes: Five Shorts.”
In addition to the films in the competition, there will also be a variety of international films not contending that will be shown, including the Academy-Award nominated documentary 5 Broken Cameras, the final film from acclaimed filmmaker Raul Ruiz, Night Across the Street and more.
Along with the screenings, the theater has a variety of events planned as well. The first is the final Science on Screen event, which will include a presentation of the Academy-Award nominated documentary Chasing Ice and an exhibition from Linda Lilienfeld, director of the organization Let’s Talk About Water, and Ryan Fogt, director of the Scalia Lab on campus.
“I do hope that they find the film an interesting way to see dramatic changes in the Earth’s climate, most of which are likely tied to anthropogenic climate change,” Fogt said. “I also hope that they will learn more about why climate change is largely driven by humans, and not just part of a natural cycle.”
The festival will also be hosting Ecoacoustics/Sound/Image Explorations, a “teaser” performance by Matthew Burtner and the nobrow.music.collective in association with Arts for Ohio and the School of Interdisciplinary Arts.
“Hopefully people will make the trek to the theater and watch our show,” said Aaron Butler, member of the nobrow.music.collective. “I think the show has been getting enough good buzz that there will be a good crowd.”
Thanks to Arts for Ohio, student tickets are free, but limited. All competition shows that start before 6 p.m. are free as well.
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