Visions4 Film Selections and Screening Schedule Announced!

With the Fourth Annual Visions Film Festival and Conference less than one month away, it is now time to announce our official film selections and film block schedule for April 4th, 2014!

As with all conference selections, our entire Visions4 staff took part in the film programming process, watching (and re-watching), scoring, discussing, and fighting for our favorite short film submissions. It is my honor to publicly announce the official Visions4 film selections and screening schedule.

Our Programming team received a wide range of film submissions in the narrative, experimental, documentary, and animation categories; representatives stretched from our regional southeastern community, such as UNC Chapel Hill, Duke, Blue Ridge Community College, NC State, University of South Carolina, Savannah College of Art and Design, and our own UNC Wilmington, to northern schools such as Ithaca College, NYU, University of Hartford, and Minnesota State. Western programs were no exception, with submissions from schools like Azusa Pacific University in Los Angeles, CA, University of Texas, University of Arizona, and the University of Utah. Internationally, the Film and Television School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague jumped all the way across the pond from Czech Republic to participate in the Visions Film Festival and Conference jurying process. On behalf of our Programming Department and Visions4, I want to thank all of those who submitted their work; as a staff, it was unanimous that every film, regardless of it’s programming outcome, revealed the promise of eventual greatness, and a certain career in post-undergraduate filmmaking.

Below, in order of scheduled appearance, are the Visions4 official film selections in their residing screening blocks:

Short Film Block 1 (3:15 - 5:00pm) -- Lumina Theater, UNCW

1. A Reel Farewell, Directed by Nathalie Fortunel--Documentary, UNCW

2. Peck Pocketed, Directed by Kevin C. Herron--Animation, Ringling College of Art and Design

3. Exposed, Directed by Kristen Wilson--Experimental/Documentary, Virginia Commonwealth University

4. Scoundrel, Directed by Michael Kefeyalew--Narrative, Florida State University

5. Advice from a Caterpillar, Directed by Stephen Goza--Animation, Blue Ridge Community College

6. Win or Lose, Directed by Daniel Koehler--Documentary, Elon University

7. Boy, Directed by James Benton--Narrative, Savannah College of Art and Design

8. Caught, Directed by Bruce X. Li--Narrative, New York University

Short Film Block 2 (8:30 - 10:30pm) -- Lumina Theater, UNCW

9. The Science of Cats, Directed by Whitney Polk--Animation, UNCW

10. Beyond the Wall, Directed by Rachel Woolf--Documentary, Ithaca College

11. m.o.t.i.o.n.m.o.v.i-e, Directed by Robert Edmondson--Experimental, University of Florida

12. Straight Down Low, Directed by Zach Wechter--Narrative, Chapman University

13. Dia de Los Muertos, Directed by Ashley Graham, Kate Reynolds, and Lindsey St. 

Pierre--Animation, Ringling College of Art and Design

14. Marsh Woodwinds, Directed by Eliza Bryan--Documentary, UNCW

15. Chillin’ With Her, Directed by Michael Kefeyalew--Documentary, Florida State University

16. Picture Book, Directed by John Palmer--Narrative, Cape Fear Community College

17. Formation, Directed by Curtis Whitear--Narrative, University of Utah

18. Pandy, Directed by Matúš VIzár--Animation, FAMU Prague

19. Heartbeats of Fiji, Directed by Jon Kasbe--Documentary, UNC Chapel Hill

Congratulations to all selected films and their respective filmmakers! We all look forward to viewing your films on the big screen April 4th at UNCW. Most of all, however, we are eager to meet a few of the ambitious, up-and-coming filmmakers this generation has to offer.

Steven Gamble

Marketing Director 

Visions Film Festival and Conference 

To attend the 2014 Visions Film Festival & Conference, please visit our website at www.visionsfilm.org to purchase your personal event badge, granting access to all film and conference blocks, as well as the after party. Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/visionsfilm

Visions4 Official Conference Selections Announced!

Visions Film Festival and Conference is excited to announce our Conference Schedule and official scholar selections!

The long nights of programming are now behind us. With every scholarly work being examined, analyzed, and approached from various perspectives, the process was one of difficulty, yet excitement. Arguments were made for our favorite pieces, although the staff ballot always decided the fate. We had to say goodbye to many top-notch papers, and it may sound a bit cliche, but with the high quality of scholarship in submissions overall, Visions4 would have preferred to select each and every author and scholarly paper for presentation. On behalf of the entire staff, I want to thank every student who submitted their work. Even if your paper was not selected for programming, you still played an enormous role in shaping Visions4 into what it is today.

Featured in this year’s Conference blocks are representatives from around the country, including undergraduate work from UNC Wilmington, The University of Florida, The University of Michigan, CUNY--Brooklyn College, and The University of Oklahoma. Presentations will range from themes of feminism (which correlate with our Keynote and feminist film scholar, Kiva Reardon), avant-garde filmmaking, early and contemporary French cinema, adaptation, hollywood classics, and innovating looks into new methods of spectatorship.

Below, in order of scheduled appearance, are the Visions4 official Conference selections in their residing blocks, set to present their scholarly work on April 4th, 2014:

Conference Block 1 (10:30 - 12:00pm) -- Lumina Theater, UNCW

1. “Boys Will Be Girls: How Alice Guy Challenged a Male Dominated Industry through Prophetic Feminism” by Dallis Frie Covey--UNCW

2. “Murders Unavenged: A Brief Look Into the Realism of the Police Procedural” by Christopher LeMaire--University of Florida

3. “The Active Viewer: Use of Multi-Screen Projection in Chelsea Girls and Kitch’s Last Meal” by Caleb Ward--UNCW

4. “Going Around the World in The Lady from Shanghai: Transmedia Adaptation in the Work of Orson Welles” by Vincent Longo--University of Michigan

Conference Block 2 (5:15 - 6:45pm) -- Lumina Theater, UNCW

5. “Irréversible & Techniques of Looking” by Conor Boyle--CUNY-Brooklyn College

6. “Cinema Du Corps and Avant Garde Cinematography: The Brutal, Contemporary French Revitalization of Experimental Filmmaking” by Tyler Davis--UNCW

7. “The “Unfilmable” Lightness of Being? : Adaptation, the Essay Film and the Puzzling Object that is Philip Kaufman’s Adaptation of The Unbearable Lightness of Being” by Brandon Konecny--UNCW

8. “Pied Piper vs. Faun: Storybooks and Female Empowerment in The Sweet Hereafter and Pan’s Labyrinth” by Amanda Stonebarger--University of Oklahoma

We are thrilled to have such a high level of Conference selections.  Congratulations to all selected scholars, and we are all looking forward to the amazing presentations you have prepared for the event on April 4th!

Steven Gamble

Marketing Director

Visions Film Festival and Conference

To attend the 2014 Visions Film Festival & Conference, please visit our website at www.visionsfilm.org to purchase your personal event badge, granting access to all film and conference blocks, as well as the after party. Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/visionsfilm

V4 Visionary Highlight.3 : Academy Award Winner Steve McQueen

       Many visionaries in film and the arts often come from places that the mainstream would not expect them to. Some view art and film education as a privilege, either for the rich, or a task undergone by individuals who have no real passion for anything and want to get a degree in something. Both of these views however, are heinous and completely divorced from reality. When we as a society try to compartmentalize art as a fringe activity for deadbeats or the rich and privileged, we are doing an incredible disservice to ourselves and to our culture. It is out of this climate, and discrimination that we look into this week’s visionary profile.

If any of you happened to watch the Academy Awards last week, or happened to stumble onto the internet, you’re probably aware that Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave took home best picture. The film itself is a grueling affair, a beautiful yet brutal work of art. It chillingly and faithfully tells the story of Solomon Northrup, a free black man who was kidnapped and forced into slavery. It is interesting to note however, that while 12 Years is a story of brutal discrimination and marginalization of humanity, the director himself knows how this attitude nearly prevented him from following his dreams.

     McQueen was born in London in 1969, and by the time he reached high school he felt discrimination first hand. In a recent interview, McQueen said that his high school had a form of “Institutionalized” racism and discrimination which would place certain students into classes more suited for manual labor, such as plumbing, roofing, and other construction work. Due to his ethnic background, McQueen already found himself being lumped into this category. McQueen also suffered from dyslexia, and wore an eye-patch to hide his lazy eye. The director felt that these hindrances along with his racial background were reasons why he was essentially written off, those in power basically deciding his fate for him. McQueen, however, always knew he was destined for much more. After finishing high school, McQueen would go on to study art Hammersmith and West London College, and then studied art and design at Chelsea College of Art and Design. Later he would study fine arts at Goldsmiths College, University of London. It was here that McQueen first discovered his love of film. He would leave Goldsmiths and studied film briefly at New York University’s Tisch School (where Phillip Seymour Hoffman also studied). The experience was brief, but McQueen stated that his time there was too stifling to creativity, “they wouldn’t even let you throw a camera up in the air!”

     While McQueen has only directed three feature films, he has produced numerous short films, many of which were shown in art galleries. McQueen was a centerpiece in many of his early films, and raised questions about such topics of human aggression, and eroticism. He was essentially written off by people who felt that because of the color of his skin, and few difficulties that he had reading meant that he was only fit to work with his hands. Like the characters in his films, he was written off, and suffered the same sort of discrimination, and a flippant disregard for other people as human beings. McQueen however has always had a passion for the arts, and it has taken him perhaps farther than he could have ever imagined. This is the spirit of a true visionary, showing that no matter what the circumstances, with passion and determination, and a love for what you do, the sky is the limit.

Written by Jacob Smith Chamelin

Web Content Writer

Visions Film Festival & Conference

Wilmington, NC

Visit our Website at www.visionsfilm.org

Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/visionsfilm 

A Short Interview with Visions4 Keynote, Kiva Reardon

Q1. Your resume is quite outstanding, where do you attribute your love of film and writing?

My dad worked in film when I was growing up, so I was started on a steady diet of the classics at a young age. (I wasn't allowed to watch commercial TV when I was a kid, but things like Citizen Kane, Lawrence of Arabia and The Birds were ok.) As for writing, I came to that a bit later during my undergrad. I was extremely lucky to discover (at the last minute) that I could major in Cultural Studies. McGill doesn't (and most likely never will!) have a film department and this major was the closest I could get to one. This lead me to really learning how to read film, both as an art form and as a political text. Two professors in particular, Alanna Thain and Ned Schantz, inspired me to continue writing. 

Q2. Who is your role model, and why?

I suppose I have a few. My mum, first of all, has always taught me to work, be independent and self-sufficient, while always remaining open-minded and generous to others. She has an amazing career and great interpersonal relationships, which is something I admire. On a different note, I take great inspiration from the work of Claire Denis, Nina Power's writing, and am very lucky to have a close friend who also acts as a mentor in many ways, Adam Nayman. 

Q3. Tell me about a project or accomplishment that you consider to be the most significant in your career thus far.

Definitely cléo. Creating something from nothing with an incredible group of women has been an amazing experience. I hope it will continue to grow and attract new readers. We're working on grant applications now, which is the next big step for us. But one of the most significant moments in my career so far was actually quitting a very good, well-paid office job (with benefits!) to go back to school and get my Masters. It changed the direction of my work completely. 

Q4. When have you been most satisfied in your life?

That's hard to answer. I'm pretty bad at recognizing being satisfied with my work and always feel the drive to be moving to the next thing. 

Q5. You majored in cultural studies as an undergraduate, did you always have film/writing in mind for your future? Or was it something you discovered during your time at McGill University?

I suppose I already answered this, but to expand, it was at McGill. I always loved writing, but during this time I really started to love writing about film. In one course, Schantz structured his classes with weekly short writing assignments on films we've watched; looking back, I can see how similar this is to writing weekly reviews. 

Q6. If you could be doing anything 10 years from now, what would it be?

I would eventually like to be in a programming capacity at a film festival; not in film programming, but speaking series, community outreach and higher education. My favourite part about film is sharing, exhibiting and talking about them with a wide audience. I also always want to keep writing. 

Q7. At Visions4 we celebrate outstanding undergraduate work in the field film production of scholarly writing; what draws you to an event like this?

The period right after graduating was really scary for me, but it was also incredibly exciting. It felt like I had no idea what I was doing and thus I could try anything. Those on-the-cusp moments are amazing to be a part of; I'm going to try and relive it at Visions4!

Q8. What inspired you to create your own digital publication, cléo journal?

I was irked by the lack of female voices in film criticism, as well as the lack of female bylines in review sections, and I suspected that I couldn’t be alone in this point of view. I sent an email to a group of women, some friends, some who I knew professionally and some whom I met while doing my Masters, to gauge interest in working on starting a journal. The response from the group was overwhelming—and ultimately it is thanks to their excitement and productive criticism that the journal came to fruition.

Q9. To what do you owe your interest in feminist theory? and do you have a favorite author?

My mother always identified as a feminist, so I grew up with it in a way and it just seemed natural. I started studying it properly in undergrad; there, I remember a TA asking our seminar who thought of themselves as a feminist and only myself and another person raised their hand. It was a moment that crystallized feminism as being an active, political stance that people chose to identify with. As for favourite authors, Bell Hooks, I've been reading B. Ruby Rich lately, I keep Virginie Despentes' King Kong Theory on my desk and basically sleep with Nina Power's One Dimensional Woman under my pillow. One of my go-to texts is Interrogating Post-Feminism. 

Q10. What's your favorite film and why?

Oh, this honestly changes depending on my mood. I often default to saying Athina Rachel Tsangari's Attenberg, Claire Denis' S'en fout la mort, Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca and Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park. 

Q11. Everyone has their guilty pleasure film, what's yours?

I don't believe in guilty pleasures, to be honest. My thinking is: like what you like, so long as you can intelligently articulate why!



Visit our website: www.visionsfilm.org

VISIONS4 Event Badges On Sale Now!

The best way to experience Visions4 is by purchasing your personal Event BADGE!

Badges provide a number of great benefits and allow you to navigate the festival and conference a little easier. They will be on sale for $10 each (a $150.00 value) from February 13th until 11:59 PM on March 31st. Prices will increase to $15 per badge on April 1st-3rd*, so we encourage you to plan ahead and buy early!

To purchase your event badge, please see Visions4 Official Website's News tab, or visit the link below:

http://visionsfilm.org/badges.html

Visions4 Digital Arts Competition!

 
Chris Keefe

Director of Operations

          

        On Monday the 10th of February 2014, Visions Film Festival and Conference is beginning the first Visions Digital Arts Bumper Contest.  This contest is open only to University of North Carolina Wilmington students.

          

Visions4 is looking for exciting and creative 10-15 second bumpers to be displayed before film/conference blocks, as well as Q & A sessions for the festival and conference on April 4th, 2014 at UNCW. Check out the Visions 2012 Official Bumper below for an example. For information on the new 2014 color pallet, font style, and official Visions4 logo, please click the link: 

Visions4 Digital Arts Competition.zip

The top bumper creators will receive a free badge granting access to all event activities. Their work will be displayed in front of our featured filmmakers and scholars, along with members of the Wilmington and university community in attendance.

To submit your bumper, email your Youtube or Vimeo link to submissions@visionsfilm.org.  The submission deadline is March 15, 2014. All winners will be announced March 19, 2014.  

Visit our website: www.visionsfilm.org

V4 Visionary Highlight.2 : Mr. Robert West -- By Jake Chamelin

West is most remembered as the co-founder of Working Films in Wilmington, North Carolina. Working Films is a nationally recognized non-profit organization which seeks to bring about social education and social activism through its nonfiction films. West tragically lost his battle with cancer last spring, but his legacy lives on through this organization, his passion for life and the arts, and most of all, those whom he influenced. It was West’s early life that would instill in him this passion for art, literature and film, and it was something that would change the direction of his life. West lost his father when he was only fourteen years old, and his family moved to Virginia. He attended Virginia Commonwealth University, and it was here that he cultivated his passion for the arts, and social activism.

His early career in publishing and bookselling landed him the position of film and video curator for the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina. He held the position from 1985-1999, and it was here where West began to make a huge impact, not only in the film community, but in his local community as well. West founded the Charlotte Film and Video Festival, which grew into an international festival, attracting filmmakers from all around the globe. During this time he also founded Charlotte’s Gay and Lesbian Film series, created with the help of a team of friends. West’s heartfelt belief that the curation of a public convening around independent film was an art form itself, capable of uniting people and creating a change in the community. West is one of many to use film as a catalyst for change, tapping in and speaking to the hearts and minds of all people. West’s impact on the cultural scene in Charlotte is immeasurable, creating a climate for change not only in the community, but buoying local artists and filmmakers with confidence and recognition for their works.

Leaving Charlotte in 1999, West moved to Wilmington where he founded Working Films. The success he enjoyed in Charlotte, along with his passion for the arts also led to the success of Working Films. The world lost an incredible advocate for film and the arts last spring, and most importantly, a great human being. Robert West’s legacy is one of social change, and his belief in the power of film being capable of joining people together. This is what makes him one of the most deserving people to ever be heralded as a visionary. West’s own artistic mission is the embodiment of Visions’ purpose, and we could not be more honored to partner with Working Films once again in 2014.
 

Written by Jacob Smith Chamelin

Web Content Writer

Visions FIlm Festival & Conference

Wilmington, NC
Visit our website: www.visionsfilm.org

2006 interview with Robert West from New Day Films on Vimeo.