The Spurlock Museum held the third annual CU International Film Festival on Saturday at the Knight Auditorium. The festival hosted four short films from three countries — two from the United States and one from Hungary and Brazil.
A red carpet gala on the first floor of the Spurlock Museum opened the festival. After an hour, guests were ushered into the auditorium for the viewing.
Opening remarks from host Callie Luttman, the morning show host of Mix 94.5 and the afternoon host of 97.9 The Vibe, kicked off the ceremony.
The first film showcased was “Somewhere in Between,” directed by Kyle Vorbach. The 15-minute romantic comedy follows two friends on New Year’s Eve and blends in science fiction elements.
“Umbrella,” an animated film from Brazil directed by Helena Hilario and Mario Pece, was next. It follows the story of a child for a run time of only eight minutes.
Get The Daily Illini in your inbox!
Another selection was “Sing,” a short film directed by Kristóf Deák that took home the award for Best Live-Action Short Film at the 89th Academy Awards. The film follows a girl who becomes a member of a prestigious choir at her new elementary school.
The concluding short film, “Feeling Through,” directed by Doug Roland, had the second-longest run time of 19 minutes and follows a friendship between a homeless teenager and a man who is deaf and blind. The film was nominated for Best Live-Action Short Film at the 93rd Academy Awards.
Max Libman, the festival’s founder, was a junior at Academy High in Champaign when he introduced the idea. Libman is now a freshman studying cinematic arts at the University of Southern California.
“I’ve always been passionate about storytelling, and about four years ago, I had this idea to bring the short film festival to our community to really bring together both filmmakers and film lovers,” Libman said.
With the help of the festivalʼs advisory board, a group of media professionals, Libman formed a panel of six distinguished jurors to assess and select submissions for the festival. Among the six are Champaign-Urbana locals like CL Cole, professor in Media, and Sammer Jones, director for Global Relations.
“We’ve seen an increase in community interest and growth, which is just so exciting to see, and we really want to turn this into a long-lasting event that the community can enjoy,” Libman said.
Close friends and family of Libman have come together as volunteers for the film festival to help it run smoothly.
“I’ve been friends with Max for 16 years now, so I’m just here to support Max and do anything I can to make the film festival go well,” said Eli Hess, freshman in Business. “Today, I’m checking tickets and making sure no one tries to sneak into the theater without a ticket.”
Hess spoke on what he feels the festival brings to C-U.
“It is such a community-driven event, and they’re just really good films that are showcased here that you get the chance to see that you might not normally,” Hess said.
The CU International Film Festival lays out its goals as the “Three E’s” — to entertain, educate and elevate. Ella Yoder, friend of Libman and freshman in Media, led the student volunteers and spoke on the importance of making these values accessible to the community.
“I think this festival is special because it’s free to the public,” Yoder said. “I think a lot of film festivals are hard for people to attend because tickets are so expensive. But this is a great way that anyone can enjoy film and media and that they get to experience international films, too, which is really cool for the Champaign-Urbana region.”
