Lipscomb’s cinematic arts program is ready to kick off its second annual 5 Minute Film Festival.
The festival is open to all students on campus who want to unleash their inner filmmaker. Steve Taylor, the cinematic arts department’s artist in residence, said that now is the perfect time to get students involved in making films.
“With interest in filmmaking at an all-time high and the cost of filmmaking equipment at an all-time low, we thought a film festival would be a good way to get the rest of the campus collaboration on making short films,” Taylor said. “They don’t even have to be made using professional equipment — some of last year’s winners were shot on iPhones.”
Taylor said he is optimistic that the amount of films turned in this year will be at least twice that of last year.
“We launched it last year and got 14 submissions from students all over campus,” Taylor said.
Students can either make a narrative-fiction film, or a mini-documentary. Judges will select the top two films in each category and award a cash prize to the filmmakers. The grand prize winner will receive $500 for the best film.
Josh Link, a graduate film student, won last year’s grand prize. He noted that anyone that is thinking about making a film needs to block out any doubts or excuses.
“My number one suggestion is to forget about all of the reasons why you shouldn’t make a film and just make one anyway,” Link said. “Some of the highest regarded movies in the independent circuit look like garbage, but the content and the story that they were able to manifest was remarkable.”
Link also noted that a good film always boils down to the story itself.
“At the end of the day, if you’ve got a great story and you’re able to tell it well, the audience will probably forgive some of your technical mistakes,” Link said. “That’s not to say you shouldn’t try your best to shoot stunning images and capture clean audio, but ask anyone in the industry and they’ll almost always tell you the same thing: story is king.”
The deadline for turning in a film is Sunday, April 12 by midnight. All the films will be screened on April 17 at 7 p.m. in Shamblin Theater.
To find out about rules for submission, students can visit the 5 Minute Festival page.