Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

City and Campus Focus on Film

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Courtesy INDICINE.COM
FOREIGN FILM FLAIR The film festival will represent the vibrant international culture of Washington, D.C.

Spring is in the air, and so are film festivals: This month sees the return of both Filmfest D.C. and the Georgetown Film Festival. The former allows between 25 to 35 different countries to display their cinematic talents in over 80 films that will play in theaters throughout the city, while the Georgetown Film Festival, presented by GUTV, gives student filmmakers an opportunity to showcase their work here on campus.

Filmfest D.C., which runs from April 11 to 21, has become a major cultural event and expects a turnout of around 23,000 to 25,000 people this year. A number of directors will be invited to the showings of their films in order to conduct a question and answer session after the screening.

“We’re looking forward to this year,” said Shirin Ghareeb, the festival’s deputy director. “We have a couple of focuses — international comedies, which is our lighter side, and international espionage thrillers and crime dramas, which we are labelling ‘Trust No One.’”

International comedies, which the festival introduced last year, became so popular they were brought back to this year’s event with a set of new films, while the latter division offers captivating plots and fascinating characters. The festival will open with Underground, an Australian drama about Wikileaksfounder Julian Assange’s teenage years, and a live telephone interview with Assange himself will follow the screening.

“We think everybody will be sitting on the edges of their seats and really enjoying the films,” saidGhareeb. “And it’s nice for filmmakers to have opportunity for these films to travel here and be exposed.”

Closing night will feature a comedy called English Vinglish about an Indian housewife who decides to secretly enroll in an English course as her niece’s wedding in the United States draws closer. Both screenings will take place at Regal Cinema Gallery Place and will be followed by a party afterwards.

The festival has come to be seen as a notable cultural event in the city.

“It is a major arts event, and it is important in terms of representing all different cultures that we have here in Washington, D.C. We have a rich cultural dynamic here, and it just makes our arts that much richer to have these films come here,” said Ghareeb. “Most of the films that we bring to the festival don’t have distribution in the US, so it’s a rare opportunity for them to be seen by US audiences.”

The Georgetown Film Festival offers a different type of film experience; instead of focusing on the cultural aspects of films, undergraduates are invited to enter their short films — between two and 20 minutes in length — into a competition that will be judged by current professors and alumni.

GUTV will show the films on Saturday, April 20, in ICC Auditorium. Awards will be given to outstanding films based on genre, actor and photography amongst others, and the festival will last up to two hours.

In fact, in the past, the festival has helped to launch students’ careers in film. Zal Batmanglij (COL ’01) won the Georgetown Film Festival while a student at Georgetown and since then has partnered with fellow Georgetown graduate Brit Marling (COL ’05) to produce several films that have been featured at the Sundance Film Festival. Other notable alums who participated in the festival include director Mike Cahill (COL ’01), “Saturday Night Live” writer John Mulaney (COL ’04) and comedian MikeBirbiglia (COL ’00).

“In the past, the festival was a lot bigger, and it’s important to remember how large a role the festival used to play in the future careers of film students,” said GUTV Culture Director Katherine Propper(COL ’15). “A lot of people would go and there was a big afterparty, but it fizzled out and was only revamped last year. … But we got a lot of submissions this year, so I would say we’re on an uphill streak.”

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