Calling all undergraduate filmmakers! Submitting your original works to major film festivals is always a nerve-wracking feat. Whether it be submitting the work or the despair of getting rejected from festival after festival, being an amateur filmmaker is extremely stressful.
Sponsored by Brandeis Television Club (BTV), the Hub Student Film Festival is open to all students in the greater Boston and New England area to submit their original films to be screened at the festival—without having to deal with the fear of rejection or the high price of submissions.
Kent Dinlenc ’19, the logistical head of the film festival, told The Brandeis Hoot in an interview that he and Benedikt Reynolds ’19, the outreach coordinator, named the film festival “Hub” because it is another name for Boston. “We didn’t want to call the festival ‘Beantown,’ so we just stuck with Hub,” Dinlenc told The Hoot.
The festival is looking to ease young filmmakers into the daunting world of film festivals by giving everyone an opportunity to showcase their work. “We’re looking to break some of these barriers by creating an event for like-minded college students to meet, showcase their work on the silver screen for free and inspire collaboration in a stress-free environment,” according to the festival’s website.
Dinlenc also said that “the world of film festival submissions and judging is very intimidating, especially for amateur filmmakers so we wanted a low-stress, chill, easy and safe environment for amateurs to submit their work.”
Dinlenc and Reynolds both share a mutual fondness for films and wanted to give a platform for filmmakers, especially amateur filmmakers, to share their work with the film community. “There are a lot of students on campus who are hesitant to submit their stuff to more prestigious or renowned film festivals, so we decided we should create a platform that is open to those people. That’s a very niche market,” Dinlenc told The Hoot.
Reynolds added that they “wanted to give Boston students the opportunity to see their work at a famous venue (the Brattle Theater) for free, get to know aspiring filmmakers and inspire collaboration across the city.”
Filmmakers who submit to the festival must be an undergraduate from a university in Boston or the greater Boston area, as well as some areas of New England and completed the film while enrolled as an undergraduate. There is no minimum for the films, but they cannot exceed 15 minutes, unless communicated with the organizers. And filmmakers are only allowed to submit one work each.
All genres of film are welcome, including but not limited to: narrative, non-narrative, drama, comedy, experimental and documentary. Any possibility of graphic material must also have a content warning.
All films selected for the festival will receive an “Official Selection” badge that can be publicized. “Although we would love to showcase all the student work that has been submitted to Hub, we only have around 2.5 hours of screen time available,” Reynolds said in an email to The Hoot.
At the end of the festival, the audience will be able to vote for their favorite films via a digital polling system. Attendees will vote on best picture, writing, cinematography and ensemble cast.
Submissions are due on March 29, 2019 and can be submitted at Film Freeway. Filmmakers will be notified by April 5, 2019 if their work has been accepted by the festival. The festival will take place at the Brattle Theater in Boston, M.A., on Saturday, April 13 from 2 to 5 p.m. Admission will be free.
