Courtesy Photo
Offshoot Film Festival attendees mingle before the next film showing at the University of Arkansas Global Campus.
Entering its sixth year as Fayetteville’s resident film festival this weekend, Offshoot Film Festival is looking its best yet.
Originated by the local filmmaker group Seedling Film Association, Offshoot Film Festival is a grassroots organized festival by local filmmakers, actors, designers and other members of the film industry to further the education, networking and promotion of independent film efforts in northwest Arkansas.
The festival will take place at the Fayetteville University of Arkansas Global Campus building on the downtown square with an additional free Saturday screening venue at the newly renovated Pryor Center in East Square Plaza.
“This year is really kind of a breakout year for us,” said Dan Robinson, executive director for Seedling Film Association. We’ve been doing it for years now, but this year we’ve got more sponsors, more films and more of so many things that we’re just really excited to see.”
Starting Thursday evening at 7 p.m., the opening ceremony and the presentation of the Career Achievement Award. This year’s recipient is Oscar nominated set designer, Meredith Boswell, who lives in northwest Arkansas. Some of her best set-work was featured in “The Grinch,” “Apollo 13,” and “Natural Born Killers.”
Afterwards, the opening night film will be “The Challenger.” The film is the final on-screen performance of acclaimed actor Michael Clarke Duncan. Screening begins at 8:30 p.m.
A total of 47 films will be shown throughout the course of the three-day festival, with a total of 20 hours in films. Submissions for this year were up by 30 percent, Robinson said.
“In previous years we showed what we had,” he said. “This year we really had to make some cuts and hard choices because we have some really high quality films and a lot to choose from.”
Film categories include narrative features, documentaries, shorts (less than 30 minutes in duration), animation, low tech as well as an Arkansas connection category that spotlights films related to or made in Arkansas. This year films were submitted from filmmakers in 15 countries across the globe. The most hails from Spain, with 11, followed by four from Iran.
Courtesy Photo
Jason Suel, a local actor and host of Later with Jason Suel, speaks at Offshoot Film Festival. Suel acts in “Neopolitan,” one of the fest’s local featured films.
Beyond showing lots of independent films, the festival provides several networking opportunities for aspiring filmmakers. Several industry professionals and distributors are invited to the festival as panelists. After each showing will be a talkback, where film crew will provide commentary and answer questions about the making of the films.
On Saturday at 1:30 p.m., there will be an industry professional panel for an exclusive Q&A with the festival attendees, which will be a first this year. The featured panelist is Sebastian Twardosz, who is in charge of acquisitions and distribution for Circus Road Films in Los Angeles.
“What we wanted to do is find a distributor that made a lot of sense,” Robinson said. “If we brought Lionsgate, they probably won’t sign your Arkansas short film. Circus Road Films actually signed for distribution of a film we are featuring at Offshoot called ‘Shelter,’ and it was made in Arkansas.”
After this year, Robinson hopes to bring in more and more film distributors. Developing a film culture in Arkansas for industry professionals to scout for talent is the goal for the future, Robinson said.
“I want distributors to come to the festival to see what we’re serving on the silver platter,” he said. “They would get first dibs to get these films signed.”
A full list of the films, events and screening times can be found on the Seedling website, www.seedlingfilm.com. Weekend passes to Offshoot Film Fest are $35 and they include access to all the films, talkbacks, after parties and panel discussions. Single tickets to any event are $7. Passes and tickets are also available through the website.
Since incorporating in January of 2010, the Seedling Film Association has hosted many events including multiple screenings of independent and student films throughout Northwest Arkansas, a short film conception competition, “Grow a Film” in partnership with the Walton Arts Center’s Artosphere, Bentonville’s “4320 Film Challenge,” and “Ozark-u-mentaries” in partnership with Crystal Bridges.
Off-Shoot Film Festival
When: This weekend, Sept. 10-12. Thursday’s events begin at 7 p.m., Friday at 5:30 p.m. and Saturday at noon.
Where: University of Arkansas Global Campus, 2 E. Center Street
How Much: Full access $35, Thursday or Friday $10, Saturday $20 @ seedlingfilm.com
If you only want to see one specific film, admission is $7.
Free showing of short films at the Pryor Center, 1 E. Center Street, during Saturday’s Farmers Market on the Fayetteville square, 9 a.m. to noon.
