Localist

Little Rock Film Fest on the Level

by Charlie James

The countdown is here for the 1st Annual Little Rock Film Festival, slated to kick off on May 17th, with a raft of excellent films and events. LRFF is shaping up to be a world-class annual event. The organizers have come home to Arkansas to create a film festival to contend with the big guns, while bringing 65 feature films, documentaries and short films to Little Rock, many for the first time. In addition, there will be panel discussions with filmmakers, parties, workshops and special events. One highlight will be the screening of more than 20 Arkansas produced films at the Chamber of Commerce screening room, which has been dubbed “Filming Arkansas Theater” for the event.

Opening night, Thursday, May 17th, will feature The Situation, followed over four days by the Arkansas premier of many of this year’s most critically acclaimed independent films. What a great opportunity to get involved with the world of independent film from Arkansas and around the world.

Some of the important films that will be hitting the festival’s designated venues will be the highly anticipated “lost” 70’s film Killer of Sheep, Offside, The Situation, War Tapes, The Hip Hop Project, Old Joy, Exist, and the mind-blowing list goes on. Many of the films will be immediately followed by question & answer sessions with the filmmakers, including Oscar winners and nominees, Emmy nominees, Iraq war veterans, and other people of aesthetic interest. The Iraq war will play heavily in this year’s event, kicking off the first Little Rock Talks panel series with a Filming Iraq panel at the Clinton School for Public Service on Friday, May 18th. The panel will be moderated by bestselling Author (Chasing Ghosts) and Iraq war veteran Paul Rieckhoff, and feature some of the most important Iraq war films.

Little Rock Film festival is now selling festival passes on their website for a mere $20! This pass entitles the holder to unlimited access to all films and panels throughout the entire four days.

I contacted the co-founders of the Little Rock Film Festival and asked them all the same question: What is your personal vision for bringing this landmark event to downtown Little Rock? Their replies speak directly to raise the creative level of Little Rock for the benefit of all.

Owen Brainard — My interest in bringing more film related events to Arkansas dates back to my time living in New York City and Austin. Both cities have thriving film festival scenes that have helped nurture each city’s creative strengths, so when I moved back to Little Rock with my family in 2004, I wanted to help the city develop its own film identity.

Craig Renaud — My brother Brent and I grew up in Little Rock and went on to become documentary filmmakers. When we were starting our careers in New York ten years ago, there were not many career opportunities in Arkansas for our field. This still remains a problem for young, inspiring filmmakers coming out of college in Arkansas. If they really want to be able to make a living and be successful on a national scale, they have no choice but to move to larger cities like New York or LA to pursue a career in filmmaking.

We have always considered Arkansas to be our home and have tried whenever possible to make films in the state. For example, the productions of two of our latest films, Off to War and Little Rock Central High School have been based in Arkansas. In Off to War, we followed the Arkansas National Guard and their families during their deployment to Iraq from 2004-2005, which aired on the Discovery Times channel as a ten part series. We are currently producing a film for HBO about Little Rock Central High School, which will air on HBO around the time of the 50th Anniversary of the integration crisis that occurred at the school in 1957. We had been thinking about starting a film festival in Little Rock for a number of years, and with the production of the Central High documentary putting us in Little Rock this year, the timing was finally right to get the festival off the ground. So, we teamed up with some long time friends from Little Rock who also have a love for film and who want to see this city grow culturally.

For me, the main motivation for starting this festival is to provide Arkansas filmmakers with a place to premiere their films and a place to collaborate with other local filmmakers, with a hope that someday soon, Little Rock can compete regionally in this field and talented filmmakers don't have to leave Arkansas to find work. For this year's festival, we are dedicating one of our venues, the Chamber of Commerce, to all Arkansas based films and filmmakers. In years to come as the festival grows, we plan to create a year round film institute in Little Rock that trains young filmmakers. Brent and I have worked with a non-profit organization in New York throughout our careers where we have worked as teachers and mentors to high school aged filmmakers, which has always been a rewarding experience for us. Lastly, simply bringing the film festival experience to Little Rock is an overall goal. This year people in Little Rock will be exposed to three days of a cultural experience with the best in independent feature films, documentaries and shorts, as well as panel discussions and parties spread throughout downtown. In years to come we will expand the festival to a full week. For those who have never experienced film festivals like Sundance, Toronto and Tribeca, they are in for a real treat.

Vone Nantharangsy — We want to be able to provide downtown LR a cultural event with cultural tourism. Our vision is to help the area grow culturally instead of only growing in one direction. We want to provide LR with an opportunity to engage in independent films whether it be documentaries, narrative shorts, or features. The festival is a place where people can interact with filmmakers themselves and get a chance to see wonderful movies that they otherwise wouldn't have the opportunity to see unless you are in cultural city. Our vision is for the community to come together to make the event an exciting and fun place to be for tourists and locals.

I’m very happy to have had the opportunity to bring news of this great new cultural event to the Localist community. Checking in with the co-founders has been a real pleasure. These people are inspired and committed. The Little Rock Film Festival should prove to be a stunning success. Like Athena springing from Zeus’s head, the festival looks to be arriving fully formed onto our fair city. There are many venues and events throughout the four days, and I’ve just skimmed the surface here. Click here to the festival's website and check out the sprawling schedule of events.