The first Athens International Film and Video Festival was hosted in 1974 at the Athena Cinema, located at 20 S. Court St. Over half a century later, the 52nd annual AIFVF was hosted from April 7-13 at the very same location.
“Lots of filmmakers submit work to us because we have a reputation of supporting really good experimental cinema and narrative cinema and doc cinema and animation,” David Colagiovanni, director of the AIFVF and an associate professor of instruction, said.
This year's festival screened 211 films from 58 countries, covering all of the categories Colagiovanni mentioned and more. Each year, the festival receives approximately 2,300 entries which are screened by students in the Film Festival Screening Practicum, a fall semester class offered through the School of Film. Part of that practicum is selecting the entries to the AIFVF and figuring out how to categorize them.
“We program them into blocks that are somewhat thematic,” Colagiovanni said. “The themes kind of come from the films we decide are the best films that year.”
Kat Frazier, a senior studying film, has enrolled in the first-semester practicum before and enjoyed learning how festival programming can be used to highlight the voices of filmmakers.
“Those blocks that are in your face (are really interesting) and something you don’t see on the screen in Hollywood because Hollywood is very reflective of where the money is going and this is very reflective of what stories artists want to tell,” Frazier said.
Although she has been involved in the Film Screening Practicum in the past, this year Frazier only participated in the second-semester course offering for the festival: the Film Festival Programming Practicum, in which students help prepare for the festival and work the ticket booth at the Athena during the week.
“It’s a great opportunity to meet filmmakers as they come into Athens; it’s usually the first time they’re talking to people,” she said. “If you catch them a little bit before the screening starts, then you really get to know who they are, where they came from, what the film is about, what their story is.”
Colagiovanni finds this intersection of students and filmmakers to be one of the most valuable aspects of the AIFVF, and it’s something that wouldn’t be possible in a big city where festival screenings are more spread out. By hosting the festival in Athens, described by Frazier as “a very subtle town” where there is not much to distract from the festival, the different players involved in the festival are able to mingle and network.
“Filmmakers really get to meet each other, they get to interact with audiences, audiences get to meet these filmmakers,” Colagiovanni said. “It’s a very fun intimate type of screening experience for filmmakers and audience.”
The location of the AIFVF and its standing as one of the largest Ohio-based film festivals also provides a unique aspect to the week: the Oh-Hi-O block, which featured short films made by students at various Ohio colleges and universities at 9:30 p.m. Saturday. The first film to premiere in that block was “Inspection,” a short film directed by Jay Cline III, a junior studying film.
“It’s a film that explores anatomy, basically,” Cline said. “It’s definitely very experimental all the way through.”
Cline made “Inspection” in Colagiovanni’s Experimental Film class. He was encouraged to submit the film to the AIFVF because it was free for students.
“It’s definitely a nice landmark of my early career, that I could say I’ve had a film in any festival in general,” Cline said. “It was a big deal to get it in, especially an Ohio-based (festival) … being raised in Ohio, it was a huge thing for me and it just means that in my mind I’m doing something right.”
Hailing from Bainbridge, Ohio, Cline not only got the rare chance to screen his film at a festival, but he got to do it alongside some big names in the industry. One of the standout aspects of the AIFVF is the Visiting Artist series, in which three artists get a special block to feature their work and host a Q&A after the screenings. Kelly Gallagher screened a collection of short films Monday at 7:15 p.m., Dani Wasserman did the same Tuesday at 7 p.m. and Lili Carré followed Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
“Kelly Gallagher, one of my favorite artists since freshman year, came this year and it was just literally amazing to sit in a theater and know she was also there and then get to talk to her afterward,” Frazier said.
These artists also served as the jury of the festival and were responsible for selecting the “Best of the Fest,” which was announced Sunday along with a schedule for the special screenings of the winners. The AIFVF is one of 100 Academy-qualifying film festivals in the world, meaning the winners of the festival have the chance to be considered for an Academy Award nomination.
Although ticket prices may fluctuate from year to year, the 52nd AIFVF offered free student tickets, single screening tickets for $5.50-$6.50 and All You Can Watch passes for $50. These reasonable prices encourage students and community members to continue supporting the festival for the next 52 years.
“I just hope it continues with the traditions, supporting challenging work, becoming a place for filmmakers and audiences to mingle, a place to bring ideas from around the world to our town,” Colagiovanni said.
