With hundreds of high-budget movies pouring out of Hollywood each year, it’s easy to overlook the quality independent films that are coming out of Eugene. Luckily for local filmmakers and film lovers alike, the Downtown Initiative for the Visual Arts, DIVA, is putting on its Second Annual OpenLens Film Festival this weekend, Jan. 13 through 15.
The OpenLens Film Festival was created by DIVA last year as a means to gather local and regional filmmakers together to show off their work while making connections with each other because Eugene lacks a local film society, said OpenLens Film Festival Director Henry Weintraub.
“There’s a lot of emphasis in the Portland area on film and independent films, and they have the Northwest Film Center that has supported that kind of work for many, many years,” said Carole Zoom, program manager at DIVA. “DIVA is only two years old, but independent film is a huge focus of our efforts and OpenLens is a way for us to show the community the work that’s being done right here in our backyard.”
Filmmakers showing their work at the OpenLens Film Festival must be from Benton, Deschutes, Douglas, Lane or Linn county. Each film must be a maximum of 15 minutes, which allows DIVA to show as many films as possible. On Saturday at 8 p.m. there will be 15 shorts shown, but that’s not the only event going on at DIVA during the OpenLens Film Festival weekend.
At 8 p.m. on Friday, DIVA will premiere the independent film “In the Land of Milk and Money,” a dark comedy and social satire in which mothers are the villains.
“It’s as if you took one of the old science fiction movies of the 50s, like ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ or ‘Them!’ but instead of having aliens as the monsters, mothers are the monsters in my movie,” Susan Emshwiller, director, writer and producer of “In the Land of Milk and Money,” said. “The social satire comes in that, as in all of those old movies, the society gets very scared of people and very suspicious and very paranoid. Mothers become this thing to be feared and to be suspicious of, and what I’m trying to do is show how we as a society often split into ‘us’ and ‘them,’ and that allows us to put people into internment camps like the Japanese in World War II, or allows us to have the McCarthy hearings about communism.”
Although Emshwiller is not a local filmmaker, she is bringing her knowledge from Hollywood to share with the budding screenwriters of Eugene. On Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.,
Emshwiller, who has won numerous festival awards for her short film “Breakfast Messages” and co-wrote the Academy Award winning film “Pollock,” will be teaching a screenwriting workshop. General admission for the workshop is on a sliding scale from $20 to $40, but with a valid student I.D., students can participate in this seminar for $15.
“I want to tell people about the traditional Hollywood formula, but also have them understand that that’s not necessarily what you have to do. You can break away from that,” Emshwiller said. “Also, my
desire is to free people up from writer’s block or the ways that they think they should write, but they don’t have to. (I want to clear up) things that paralyze the brain – get them out of some of the ruts that they might be in in their way of thinking.”
Also on Saturday, “Best of Explosion! 2005” will celebrate work from students of the University’s Department of Art. These animated films can be seen at 3 p.m. for $2 to $5.
Saturday night, the Second Annual OpenLens Film Festival premieres at 8 p.m. Viewing the shorts from local filmmakers will cost $5 and because DIVA recently purchased a professional-grade projector and screen, the experience will be as close to a real movie theater as possible. Prizes will be awarded, including a $250 top prize for the juried Best of the Festival Award, as well as a $100 prize for the Audience Choice Award. A reception will follow, where audience members can interact with the filmmakers.
Sunday will feature an encore presentation of the shorts at 3 p.m. From 6 p.m. to 8:50 p.m., a special seminar dedicated to exploring the horror film genre will take place. For no admission, “30 Days in Hell: The Making of Devil’s Rejects” will be shown and discussed for aspiring filmmakers who would like to explore the making of a horror film.
And although the OpenLens Film Festival is only in its second year, DIVA recognizes its importance to the Eugene area.
“It’s hard to get everyone interested together and meet on a regular basis to talk about movies and what people are into,” Weintraub said. “We definitely have a lot of touring film festivals, but I think this is one of the best that Eugene puts out. There is a lot of interest, especially as far as independent films go, and there’s a lot of really good stuff that comes from Eugene.”
For more information, visit www.proscenia.net/openlens, or call 344-DIVA. DIVA is located at 110 W. Broadway in downtown Eugene.
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