Chicago Southland International Film Fest expands, both in-person, virtual
Suzanne E. Patterson and Joshua E. Young, co-founders of the Chicago Southland International Film Festival at Governors State University, describe their annual movie celebration as their way of connecting “reel to real.”
“Since we launched the film festival back in 2018, this event has engaged 240 independent filmmakers across 20 states and 16 countries,” Young said.
“The reach of this festival continues to grow, just as much as independent filmmaking has grown as an art in the past two decades.”
This year’s festival, to be held Oct. 11-17, is a blend of both virtual viewing opportunities and also in-person screenings and panel discussions.
“After our 2020 festival had to be entirely virtual, we decided to create a hybrid design this year to allow the option of both remote participation for watching the featured works and also still have the traditional gathering on campus,” Young said.
“While the in-person schedule of screenings and panel opportunities are only on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 15-17, anyone with the virtual ticket pass will still be able to access and watch the films from home during those weekdays prior to the weekend of in-person programming.”
Young said all of the festival in-person events are held in the 86-seat F1622 Auditorium in the F Building on campus.
The 2021 festival is highlighting 58 short films from 13 countries — Australia, Canada, Egypt, Germany, India, Iran, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, The Netherlands, The United Kingdom and the United States — as well as a select few feature films.
“We have a committee of award-winning producers, students, faculty scholars, community advisers and working filmmakers who make our selections each year from the more than 100 prospective works submitted,” Young said.
“Our definition of a short film subject is any work which is 30 minutes or less.”
Among the short subject films included this year created by local Chicago and Illinois filmmakers are titles like “Requiem for Black Love,” about two fugitive slaves risking their lives for a chance at love and the pursuit of happiness, directed by Eric Almond, of Flossmoor.
Another short subject called “Roots,” is written, produced, shot and edited by recent GSU graduate Alex Pavloski, and unfolds as a stop-animation showcase about two flowers experiencing love, heartbreak and the cycles of life in the plant kingdom.
Tom Doherty, of Rockford, made his idea into reality with his film titled “Keep the Change,” a comedic short drama about a stage comic who runs out on his restaurant check to lure the owner of a restaurant to his show in hopes of being discovered for future bookings.
One of this year’s feature films presented is a screening and discussion of “Try Harder!” directed by Debbie Lum, a film which had its world premiere at Sundance earlier this year. Young describes it as “a heartfelt journey” into the reality of the American college application process and the intersection of class, race, and educational opportunity, as students navigate the rite of passage of a campus community.
“It’s exhilarating to come out of the 2020 virtual world with our hybrid festival concept this year,” Patterson said.
“We are able to entertain folks in the comfort of their own homes, while still hosting a live, in-person weekend of screenings and discussions. We are not only honored by the response, but we have previous filmmaker participants returning for a second, third and even fourth year, with new submissions.”
Young, who is a GSU staff member and program director for the campus digital learning and media design program, said the annual festival provides a platform for independent filmmakers with diverse perspectives to share their work while also growing their craft.
“With core values of inclusiveness, diversity and promoting quality of life, our festival offers Chicagoland residents and remote audiences an opportunity to see a collection of diverse films created by amateur, high school, and professional filmmakers from around the world, all sharing the same passion,” Young said.