UA’s First Black Warrior Film Festival to Host Films, Speakers

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. —The department of telecommunication and film, The Student Producer’s Association, Crimson Cinema Productions and Creative Campus will present the Black Warrior Film Festival at Reese Phifer Hall at The University of Alabama April 13.

The free all-day festival will celebrate student films produced at the Capstone and showcase some of the highly awarded student productions that have come out of Tuscaloosa.

“Our students and alumni are doing amazing things,” said Dr. Rachel Raimist, head of the telecommunication and film department’s production track and assistant director for Creative Campus. “This festival provides an opportunity for us to showcase just how special this program is and the quality of work that’s coming from our department.”

Films being screened include “Land of Oz,” a documentary by telecommunication and film alumni Johnny Hanna, telling the story of Tuscaloosa’s indie owned music store, Oz Music, and music videos produced by students for local and national artists including Gifted’s “Superstar” music video, directed by alumnus Micah Russell, who works at  George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic.

“Not a Statistic,” a documentary by telecommunication and film senior Shelby Hadden, premiered at the Franklin Theater in Tennessee to a sold-out crowd, and it is being screened across the region as a fundraiser for the Team Hunt foundation. The film centers around the parents of baby Hunt, diagnosed with a rare mitochondrial disease. The family will attend and answer questions at the UA screening.

The festival features three blocks of film screenings throughout the day, showcasing both narrative and documentary films, in addition to a selection of panels, master classes and workshops by industry professionals between the film blocks.

The creators of the popular web series, “Marble Hornets,” will be hosting one of these master classes at 7 p.m. in 216 Reese Phifer Hall. Created by UA graduate Troy Wagner and student Joseph Delage, Marble Hornets has more than 250,000 subscribers on Youtube with more than 55 million views of the 65 episodes. The intensely popular webseries, recently written about in Variety, will be produced by Mosaic as a feature film, with filming to begin this spring.

A panel on the role of film festivals in indie films will feature Chole Collins, executive director of the Sidewalk Film Festival; Nick Corrao, filmmaker and telecommunication and film faculty member; Rachel Morgan, lead programmer for the Sidewalk Film Festival; and C.K. Lichenstein II, filmmaker and juror. The panel will take place at 5 p.m. in 216 Reese Phifer Hall.

In addition, there will be a masterclass with award-winning editor, Angelo Corrao, A.C.E; a RED camera workshop with Alabama cinematographer, Keith Tippit; and post-production workshop with TUBE, Atlanta.

For more information on the Black Warrior Film Festival and the full schedule of events, visit creativecampus.ua.edu/project/bwfilmfest.

Contact

Misty Mathews, communication specialist, 205/348-6416, mmathews@ua.edu

Source

Dr. Rachel Raimist, rraimist@ua.edu