A new festival will shine a light on short films of high school and college students. The Foxtail Film Festival, which will debut in April of 2023, is now accepting submissions.
The early-bird deadline is November 18, 2022.
Short films must be no more than 10 minutes in length. Entries will be accepted in three categories: narrative, documentary, and animation. Students will use FilmFreeway to submit. The link can be found on the Foxtail Film Festival website.
Films selected for public viewing will be screened at the festival in Normal, Illinois. Foxtail Film Festival will run April 27-30 at the historic Normal Theater.
“This is a chance for new filmmakers to go through the juried process,” said Foxtail Director Andrew Ventimiglia, who is an assistant professor in the School of Communication at Illinois State University in Normal. “Creating a film is an incredible experience, but it’s very different from sitting in a theater with people watching and reacting to what you’ve created.”
Located in the heart of Illinois, also known as the Prairie State, the new Foxtail Film Festival gets its name from the foxtail plant, which flourishes in the state. Preference will be given to submissions by Illinois filmmakers.
Foxtail is a peer-juried festival, meaning chosen submissions are selected by a team of students, under the guidance of festival board members. Student jurors are part of Ventimiglia’s Illinois State course, Film Festival Management and Curation.
“The class allows students to learn both the business management side and the artistic side of making a festival come to life,” said Ventimiglia, who helped to develop the Davis Feminist Film Festival.
Building community for new filmmakers is a goal of Foxtail, said Professor Brent Simonds, one of the organizers of Foxtail, and an award-winning documentarian. “Students can become engaged, interact with the filmmaking community, and find support in those who share their passion. They may earn the coveted laurels of a film festival.”
Admission to the Foxtail Film Festival in April will be free, supported by the Town of Normal. The Town oversees the historic Normal Theater, built in 1937 in the Art Moderne architectural style. “The Normal Theater has long been the destination for fans of Independent and Art House films in Central Illinois, so it is a natural space to invite filmmakers to share their work,” said Town of Normal Director of Cultural Arts Department Beth Whisman. “The Town of Normal is proud to help host the Foxtail Film Festival in our historic theater. We hope filmmakers and fans alike enjoy these new films in an old space that was designed to celebrate and elevate this timeless medium.”
The festival is housed at the University’s School of Communication. Board members for the festival include faculty members from communication, theater, art, and anthropology as well as representatives from the Normal Theater. For more information on the film festival, go to the Foxtail Film Festival website.
Important Foxtail Film Festival dates:
November 18, 2022 – Early Bird Deadline
January 23, 2023 – Deadline
March 03, 2023 – Late Deadline
March 24, 2023 – Notification Date
April 27-30, 2023 – Festival at Normal Theater
Find out more about the Foxtail Film Festival, including information on submissions, on the Foxtail Film Festival website.
