“Hello everyone, and I want to welcome to the annual Thawout Film Festival hosted by your local UAF Film Club!’
The audience applauded warmly, a little under 100 people were seated and listening to the event’s host, who has begun introducing “Cobalt‘, a techno thriller about a hunt for a mysterious drive. Most of the audience is dressed casually; mostly college age, but some senior citizens are sprinkled throughout. Dotted around the crowd are people dressed in their best formal wear: Film Club representatives from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The host Elsbeth Cheyne, UAF theatre student, finishes her speech, and the bright white overhead lights are dimmed and the blinds are lowered as the night begins in earnest.
The Thawout Film Festival has been a Film Club tradition for over a decade: a student run film festival that showcases local and independent short films, usually made by students or UAF alumni. “Cobalt‘ exemplifies this; made by UAF alumni who live in California, but briefly returned to Alaska to shoot the film, which ends on a cliffhanger, leaving the audience to groan. One hoodie clad person in attendance was heard complaining that it felt like the first part of a longer film.
“It’s always a little nerve wracking to showcase something you’ve made,’ Fischer Knapp later explained over the phone. Knapp directed one of the films showcased in this year’s festival: “Angela‘, a romance shot entirely in Spanish, and half in black and white. The risk in these choices came up as when the host and filmmaker discussed his work onstage. Knapp stumbled for words, then explained that he and the lead actor were taking a Spanish immersion course at the time; as for jumping between color and black and white, he said he feels color is underutilized as a method of expressing emotion in film. The host nods; claps follow.
“But I think it’s always a positive thing to see how people react. And in my experience it’s never as bad as you think it’ll be,’ he says. His smile is visible judging from the tone of his voice.
Luke Williams, the executive producer on another film shown in the festival, the Christmas themed comedy “Dear Satan‘, a film in which a little girl accidentally writes a letter to Satan rather than Santa Claus that had the crowd laughing, describes what he feels people get out of the festival after it is over, “The idea that all these amazing films that are being shown were made by local people and not some studio, I think it makes film more accessible to people.’
While Professor Maya Salganek, the Film Club’s advisor and one of the festival’s judges, is happy with the quality of work shown and the yearly increase in quality, she suggests the Club needs to broaden the target audience. “Maybe less effort was put into outreach and connecting with filmmakers outside of the membership of the Film Club itself.’
In years past, there were many more awards categories making for a more diverse festival – “‘Alumni’, ‘Documentary’, ‘Experimental’ and even ‘K-12’’, in addition to this year’s “Judge’s Choice’ and “Audience Choice’, as well as seven technical awards. Perhaps related to this lack of diversity is festival attendance. In 2007, the festival had 500 in attendance. This year, a little under 100 showed.
Some other issues were expressed: “Dear Satan‘ producer Luke Williams says how the judges were not contacted ahead of time so they did not have much notice before coming in. He is not sure if, “it was lost in translation or if someone was just too busy to work on it.’
It didn’t help, Knapp said, that the first round of advertising had the wrong date listed. He suggests the problem could be averted by, “Just organizing more and getting [the posters] up earlier’.
Large or small, the festival serves a purpose, he said: “We’re a pretty small department and a lot of the people I’ve talked to didn’t even know that UAF had film.’
The final film of the evening rolls to an end with “Sci-Fi‘, a science fiction film in which a duo launch a dumpster to space. The credits roll, the lights come back on, and the crowd, still recovering from their laughter, applauds as loud as they have all night. Those who do know about the university’s film department are enjoying themselves heartily throughout: at the mind-bending ending of Joe Yate’s “Alan‘ when a man loses his sanity looking for his dog in a forest; or at the end of the festival when “Dear Satan‘ — the movie Luke produced — won both “Audience Choice’ and “Judge’s Choice’ to the sound of much cheering.
Professor Salganek ends, “There are many professional filmmakers in the state, alumni living outside, and unknown talents. Making the festival inclusive should be a goal.’