The 2011 New Art Film Festival (NAFF) is happening this evening at the Art Theater in conjunction with the Downtown Champaign day of the Boneyard Arts Festival. There are two features and nearly a dozen shorts in the scheduled lineup (subject to change), which runs from 5 p.m. to midnight or so.
The NAFF presents an opportunity for the C-U community to get a glimpse of what the filmmakers in our midst have been occupied with. For example, it’s the Champaign premiere of Once Upon a Time in 1972, a movie from the producers of The Transient (shown at last year’s NAFF), about science, adventure, love, and robots.
Jason Pankoke of C-U Confidential, who is co-sponsoring the festival with the Art, revealed that, for even more fun, the producers of the film “plan to display the full robot prop seen in this short” at the theater. Many of the films in the festival were released in 2010 or 2011. Pankoke said “We’d always prefer to show the newest work if it’s offered to us because that is an overarching quality of the Boneyard Arts Festival we happily coincide with — to display the best and brightest artistic expression our community has to offer in the here and now!”
Diversion, a film by Chris Folkens and Sam Carmichael, will also get its Champaign premiere during NAFF’s 5 p.m. program of short films. According to its IMDb page, this thriller tells the story of Sean Murray, a seemingly ordinary attorney from Chicago who receives a call from a blackmailer that threatens to hurt his family. The filmmakers said that “It was great working with Chicago crew, talent, and locations … it really made Chicago a character in the film.”
This short has been an official selection in film festivals around the country in the past several months. But the New Art Film Festival isn’t just another stop for these filmmakers — it’s a return to their roots. Carmichael grew up here and graduated from Centennial High School before moving to Chicago to pursue filmmaking, and Folkens graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2005. They mentioned, “We are very excited to show the film here because we both got our start in this town. It’s a great opportunity to come back and show the community a project that we’ve worked hard on.” Carmichael expects to attend the festival this evening.
Folkens and Carmichael were quick to express gratitude for all the support they’ve had in making this film become a reality. “Diversion was funded by the generous donations of not only the filmmakers, but their friends and family, many of which live in the Champaign area. A huge thank you to one of our Executive Producers … Jason Franklin, who made a generous donation that allowed us to finish the film the way we intended to. Showing the film in Champaign is a chance for us to say thank you to all those who supported us early on.”
So what can audiences expect from this film? Folkens emphasized that “Even though it is a 14-minute film, we really tried to give it the scope of a feature film storyline because our ultimate goal is to turn it into a feature film someday soon. So buckle up and enjoy the ride!”
To further whet your appetite before this evening’s show, here’s the minute-long trailer for Diversion:
“Diversion” Teaser Trailer from Chris Folkens on Vimeo.
Reflecting on the festival experience, Folkens and Carmichael said, “It’s just great to be in a place that’s surrounded by people who love watching and talking about films — but not at the same time, of course!” And the New Art Film Festival is your opportunity to do just that.
In the same vein, Pankoke expressed that “We are happy and humbled to not only be playing all these cool, affecting local films, but that most of them will be making their public C-U premiere at the NAFF. This means that filmmakers are responding to the NAFF as a destination event at which to showcase their film work, and we hope the C-U community does its vital part by attending, watching, and being inspired by their films.”
Admission to the New Art Film Festival is FREE, and don’t forget that the Art Theater offers wine, beer, coffee, hot chocolate, and baked goods for sale in addition to the typical popcorn and soda. For more specifics about the festival programming or to indicate your intention to attend, visit the New Art Film Festival Facebook event.