Siouxland Film Festival now in third year
By Joanne Fox Journal staff writer | Posted: Friday, March 21, 2008
Thomas Ritchie of Elk Point, S.D., created the documentary "Sioux City Ghosts." (Submitted photo)
Joe Case admitted he looks for any excuse to leave New York and visit Sioux City.
That's not quite the reason he started the Siouxland Film Festival, but it does bring him back home.
Now in its third year, the event, March 28-29, showcases independent work in conjunction with graduate student work from Siouxland and across the country.
"That first year, I never thought it would be so well accepted," Case said, referring to the over 700 people who attended the screening in 2006. "I figured it would be a success if we could get about 150 or 200 people to show up."
The second year, people came back; although, not as many. Closer to 500 attended
"The weather played a huge factor last year because it was so bitter cold," Case said. "It even impacted travel for one of the filmmakers getting here."
Case, a Sioux City native, came up with the film festival idea after returning home from studies at Columbia University in New York and attending an Orpheum event.
"I was literally blown away by the facilities," admitted the son of Timothy and Christine Case. "I talked to Margot Chesbro (SiouxLandmark board member) about the idea of using the Orpheum to show short films and she encouraged me that anytime I'd like to show something, I should."
From there, Case thought, "Why not show a lot of local stuff?" and began putting the film festival together with help from Chesbro, Gary Lipshutz, Kim Steffen, Orpheum development director at the time and attorney Tim Bottaro. Case worked on presentation, format and particulars of the festival.
A Web site was designed with information, www.siouxlandfilmfestival.com, so people all over the country could take part. Individuals could submit their short movies on any subject matter (documentary, short fiction, animation, experimental). The movie could be no longer than 15 minutes and made within the last five years for the general public and the previous two years for graduate students.
Then, Case sat back and watched the submissions come in; 70 movies were submitted, about half from the general public and about half from graduate students. That included Case's own screenplay, "Ornaments." He created the 12-minute movie as part of his graduate work and spent four days in mid-August 2005 in Sioux City filming the screenplay.
This year, the festival date was moved to March -- in response to the weather, Case said.
"It's still new so I'm not quite sure how it will be received," he said of the date change. "We're hoping for better attendance."
But Case tweaked this year's film festival in another way. He's added the feature film, "The Final Season." The movie was filmed in Iowa and based on the true story of the Norway baseball team's dramatic state championship run in its last year before merging with another high school
As a member of the 12-person Siouxland Film Festival screening group, Case spent hours wading through submissions for the third annual film festival, The time spent was well worth it, he said.
"I've been so impressed by what local film-makers have done and we've had more submissions from people in Siouxland than in previous years," he added. "The nice thing has been seeing some of the same filmmakers year after year and how they're developing in their craft."
Case is already looking ahead to next year.
"We'd like to add an afternoon screening in the future, probably on Saturday," he said. "It's slow steps, but it is a work in progress."
The submissions are down a bit this year, Case said, and he wasn't sure if that was due to a date change or the fact that there is no monetary stipend for the winners of the festival -- except the University of South Dakota does grant the graduate winner $300.
"But the idea isn't winning," insisted Case, a 1998 East High School graduate. "The point is to inspire filmmakers to continue their work and encourage them to keep making movies."
For more information on the film festival, call the Orpheum at 244-5440 or visit www.orpheumlive.com.
Film selections
The following short films are among those selected by a panel of judges as the best submissions. The films received the highest distinction and will be screened at the Orpheum Theatre starting at 7 p.m., March 29. Tickets are $6 for adults, $3 for students. (Some films may contain adult content.)
GRADUATE STUDENT SELECTIONS
"Ogopogo" by Chris Amundson (Columbia -- New York)
"Bloody Mary" by Mike Hill (Columbia -- New York)
Two "Untitled" selections by Jason Wood (Columbia -- New York)
SIOUXLAND SELECTIONS
"Forever Yours" by Ryan and Michael McCarthy (Alton)
"Bloody Mary" by Patrick Bottaro (Sioux City)
"Happy Birthday Mom" by Joe Clarke (Sioux City)
"The Message" by Levi Davis (Sioux City)
"Nothing Much" by Melissa Lanzourakis (Sioux City)
"Redemption," "BFF" and "HIM" all by Carlos Omar (South Sioux City)
"Sioux City Ghosts: A Documentary" by Thomas Ritchie (Elk Point)
"FEATURE PRESENTATION"
Filmed in Iowa, "The Final Season," is based on the true story of the Norway, Iowa baseball team's dramatic state championship run in its last year before merging with another high school. The film will air at 7:30 p.m., Friday. Following the movie, there will be a discussion group with the film's producer Tony Wilson and Kent Stock, the Norway baseball coach on whose story the film was based. The film is rated PG.
That's not quite the reason he started the Siouxland Film Festival, but it does bring him back home.
Now in its third year, the event, March 28-29, showcases independent work in conjunction with graduate student work from Siouxland and across the country.
"That first year, I never thought it would be so well accepted," Case said, referring to the over 700 people who attended the screening in 2006. "I figured it would be a success if we could get about 150 or 200 people to show up."
The second year, people came back; although, not as many. Closer to 500 attended
"The weather played a huge factor last year because it was so bitter cold," Case said. "It even impacted travel for one of the filmmakers getting here."
Case, a Sioux City native, came up with the film festival idea after returning home from studies at Columbia University in New York and attending an Orpheum event.
"I was literally blown away by the facilities," admitted the son of Timothy and Christine Case. "I talked to Margot Chesbro (SiouxLandmark board member) about the idea of using the Orpheum to show short films and she encouraged me that anytime I'd like to show something, I should."
From there, Case thought, "Why not show a lot of local stuff?" and began putting the film festival together with help from Chesbro, Gary Lipshutz, Kim Steffen, Orpheum development director at the time and attorney Tim Bottaro. Case worked on presentation, format and particulars of the festival.
A Web site was designed with information, www.siouxlandfilmfestival.com, so people all over the country could take part. Individuals could submit their short movies on any subject matter (documentary, short fiction, animation, experimental). The movie could be no longer than 15 minutes and made within the last five years for the general public and the previous two years for graduate students.
Then, Case sat back and watched the submissions come in; 70 movies were submitted, about half from the general public and about half from graduate students. That included Case's own screenplay, "Ornaments." He created the 12-minute movie as part of his graduate work and spent four days in mid-August 2005 in Sioux City filming the screenplay.
This year, the festival date was moved to March -- in response to the weather, Case said.
"It's still new so I'm not quite sure how it will be received," he said of the date change. "We're hoping for better attendance."
But Case tweaked this year's film festival in another way. He's added the feature film, "The Final Season." The movie was filmed in Iowa and based on the true story of the Norway baseball team's dramatic state championship run in its last year before merging with another high school
As a member of the 12-person Siouxland Film Festival screening group, Case spent hours wading through submissions for the third annual film festival, The time spent was well worth it, he said.
"I've been so impressed by what local film-makers have done and we've had more submissions from people in Siouxland than in previous years," he added. "The nice thing has been seeing some of the same filmmakers year after year and how they're developing in their craft."
Case is already looking ahead to next year.
"We'd like to add an afternoon screening in the future, probably on Saturday," he said. "It's slow steps, but it is a work in progress."
The submissions are down a bit this year, Case said, and he wasn't sure if that was due to a date change or the fact that there is no monetary stipend for the winners of the festival -- except the University of South Dakota does grant the graduate winner $300.
"But the idea isn't winning," insisted Case, a 1998 East High School graduate. "The point is to inspire filmmakers to continue their work and encourage them to keep making movies."
For more information on the film festival, call the Orpheum at 244-5440 or visit www.orpheumlive.com.
Film selections
The following short films are among those selected by a panel of judges as the best submissions. The films received the highest distinction and will be screened at the Orpheum Theatre starting at 7 p.m., March 29. Tickets are $6 for adults, $3 for students. (Some films may contain adult content.)
GRADUATE STUDENT SELECTIONS
"Ogopogo" by Chris Amundson (Columbia -- New York)
"Bloody Mary" by Mike Hill (Columbia -- New York)
Two "Untitled" selections by Jason Wood (Columbia -- New York)
SIOUXLAND SELECTIONS
"Forever Yours" by Ryan and Michael McCarthy (Alton)
"Bloody Mary" by Patrick Bottaro (Sioux City)
"Happy Birthday Mom" by Joe Clarke (Sioux City)
"The Message" by Levi Davis (Sioux City)
"Nothing Much" by Melissa Lanzourakis (Sioux City)
"Redemption," "BFF" and "HIM" all by Carlos Omar (South Sioux City)
"Sioux City Ghosts: A Documentary" by Thomas Ritchie (Elk Point)
"FEATURE PRESENTATION"
Filmed in Iowa, "The Final Season," is based on the true story of the Norway, Iowa baseball team's dramatic state championship run in its last year before merging with another high school. The film will air at 7:30 p.m., Friday. Following the movie, there will be a discussion group with the film's producer Tony Wilson and Kent Stock, the Norway baseball coach on whose story the film was based. The film is rated PG.
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