By: Omar K. Elmore, senior writer
Two seniors are planning a film festival for Wofford to host in the Spring. Connor Felder ’18 and Padget Satterwhite ’18, along with Dr. Julie Sexeny and Dr. Kimberly Hall, are in the final planning stages of the festival.
The students are working to set the framework for an annual festival that takes place in the Richardson Sallenger Center for the Arts. “We hope that this is just the beginning and that each year the festival will return, bigger and better each time,” says Felder.
Satterwhite and Felder will review all submissions prior to the festival on Friday, May 4. They have invited guest judges, including two from New York who work in the industry.
“This is such a big opportunity for students, especially those of us in the film & digital media concentration,” says Mayson Liner ’19. “We have a chance to have our work shown and evaluated by people who are active in the film business.”
“It’s also a lot of pressure,” Liner adds.
Sexeny’s Advanced Digital Filmmaking class, in which Liner is enrolled, are producing shorts specifically for the festival; the class syllabus is built around the planning for and production of short films. Students wrote scripts, conducted casting calls and will shoot and edit the films with small crews made of the 10 students in the class.
Festival submissions are open to all Wofford students and may also include other forms of digital media art forms.
“Wofford’s investment in the arts and into student resources allows this to happen,” says Liner. “We don’t have to go out of pocket for equipment rentals and we have the opportunity to have professional software provided for us.”
Film programs nationwide tend to encourage students to submit work to national competitions as a way of garnering exposure and critique. Some schools that do host film festivals incentivize the competition with prizes for the top awards or grants for future projects.
“We are deciding what awards the films will compete for,” says Felder. “Of course, our judges will have a strong say but there will also be audience awards. We expect to offer cash prizes to some of the top award-winners.”
The student festival planners have worked to secure sponsors, interested students and industry professionals. Student filmmakers have scheduled production to fit within the timeline of the festival submissions.
“I am excited to shoot my own film and work with other students to shoot theirs,” says Liner. “The festival is a big incentive to make better work and really grind out good stories.”
“Expect a bi-marketing campaign as we get closer to the festival,” Felder says. “We have worked really hard to get this together.”
The cutoff date for submissions is April 20. Felder and Satterwhite plan on publishing a website where films can be submitted and also can be reached for questions or comments by email at [email protected].
