The variety of student films at the 2019 Charlotte Film Festival
When a student makes a film, what do they do with it? They could post it on YouTube, they could share it on social media, or they can strive for more. If a student has the ambition, they could submit it to a film festival.
Plenty of student filmmakers had the ambition to submit their films into this year’s Charlotte Film Festival. Out of all of the films that were submitted, only ten films were shown accepted and shown at the festival. The films that were screened during the festival were: It’s Not Funny, On the Clock, The Comedian, Alone, Horse Girl, Bird of Paradise, Every Time, 158, Ad Mellora, and Meow.
The Flims
Each film brought something different to the table. Films like It’s Not Funny and Horse Girl were comedic, other films such as Every Time and Bird of Paradise were dramas. Some of these films even offered a commentary of something going on in the real world. One of those being On the Clock, which showed the struggles of a low-income family of two that consisted of an older brother and a middle school-aged sister. Their struggles are highlighted when the sister experiences her first period before her brother is paid, leaving him desperate to help her due to there not being anyone else that can help them.
The comedic films focused on small things like the story of a cat and dog in the animated short Meow. Other comedies showed certain real-life scenarios in a comedic light like It’s Not Funny. The film focuses on a young couple, dressed in clown costumes on the day after Halloween, struggling to get contraceptives at the drug store. The struggles in this film versus the struggles in On the Clock are vastly different. Whereas the struggles in On the Run are more dramatic due to their stakes, the struggles that are depicted in It’s Not Funny are more comedic. The came from the lack of knowledge on the subject from the male lead. This created some good comedic moments between the male lead and the female lead of the film.
Other student films shown at the festival delved into the horror, sci-fi, and documentary genres. This block of the festival had a lot of variety, and that shows the different perspectives that these students are portraying. Read more about the student films at this year’s festival here.
Where do these films come from?
Students from across the country in states such as California and Florida submitted films to this festival. In the eleven years that this festival has been held, it has gained in notoriety; and that notoriety has attracted students from all over the country to submit their films.
The exposure from the festival can be huge for any student at the festival. If a student’s film manages to win the audience award, it could expose them to other festival organizers, and it could help them spread their film to even more places around the country and maybe even around the world. The Charlotte Film Festival is the first festival for some of these filmmakers, and it is not the last for any of them.
Mock Tweet: Student filmmakers from across the country have turned to the Charlotte Film Festival to show their films. Read more about them here.
