Without leaving the comfort of Court Street, Athens residents can attend and compete in an international film competition.
The 32nd Annual Athens International Film Festival will kick off at 5 p.m. today at the Athena, 20 S. Court St., and continue through Thursday. The festival will screen 22 feature films and 120 competition films from all over the world.
In addition to the competition, Steve Buscemi, who appeared in Armageddon
The Wedding Singer and Big Fish will make an appearance Monday at Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium. He will be presenting Lonesome Jim a movie he directed, which was featured at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.
More than 330 entries were received from almost every continent, said film festival director Ruth Bradley. The committee advertises through its mass e-mail list and its Web site www.AthensFest.org.
The festival has grown dramatically since its beginning in 1979 Bradley said. And through this event
we are bringing the world of film to Athens.
A panel of Ohio University students and volunteers began screening the films in January and ended before Spring Break. They watched every film and selected which ones would show at the festival for public viewing. The committee chose a diverse selection of genres that include comedy, politics, queer cultures, death, love and family. The films were then divided into three categories: narrative, documentary and experimental.
During the festival week, guest jurors will watch the films in a lock down mode
without committee or public influence
Bradley said. The jurors will vote for the best films in each category and then award an allotment of cash prizes to the winners.
Among the films to be shown is Rockwell Kent
which was produced and written by OU telecommunications professor Frederick Lewis. Over the course of 10 years, Lewis compiled the documentary, which retraces the life of artist and author Rockwell Kent. Lewis is interested to see how the community reacts to his work, which will be shown at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Tickets can be purchased at the Athena box office, Kantner Hall and the College of Fine Arts Ticket Office. Program books with complete event listings and ticket prices can be picked up at Alden Library, Athena Cinema, Baker Center and Donkey Coffee.
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Amber James
