There will be some drama going on April 22 at Vanderbilt University as the second annual Vanderbilt Student Film Festival – “Vandy Gets Reel” – showcases films by Vanderbilt students and faculty and features Oscar-nominated filmmakers Steve James and Peter Gilbert.
The festival will be held from noon to 11 p.m. in Room 103 of Buttrick Hall and is free and open to the Vanderbilt community. The screenings are of films made by undergraduate and graduate students during summer 2007 and the 2007-2008 academic year.
James and Gilbert, makers of the film Hoop Dreams, will screen their new feature-length documentary At the Death House Door and announce the student film festival winners for best fiction and non-fiction film.
Some of the films to be shown are part of Filming Nashville, a yearlong undergraduate student program at Vanderbilt designed to teach social documentary filmmaking through capturing social and human themes in Nashville. In addition to being screened at the festival, these films will be archived at the Vanderbilt Center for Nashville Studies, which helped fund the program.
Filming Nashville documentaries to be screened at the festival include:
- The Odyssey Program – This film follows three formerly homeless men as they participate in Odyssey, a two-year residential program at the Campus for Human Development. The program is designed to assist participants with overcoming the often deep-rooted issues that many times contribute to chronic homelessness. The men featured in the film will attend the film’s premiere at the festival.
- Fannie Battle – A single-parent family and the role Fannie Battle Day Home for Children plays in their lives are the topic of this documentary in which we hear from 10-year-old Darius who says the day home is one of his favorite places because he feels safe. Darius’ father is in prison for initiating a shoot-out in their home. The featured family and members of Fannie Battle plan to attend the film’s premiere at the festival.
- Food Insecurity – This film examines the story behind this theoretical term and attempts to understand why there is a disconnect between locally grown fruits and vegetables and the people who need them most. Featured in the film are children in a lower-income North Nashville neighborhood who help manage a vegetable stand in their community and a local farmer who sells his crops at Farmers’ Market but struggles daily with a fading way of life.
- Spoken Word Loud and Clear – Four spoken word poets who use their words and performance as a form of healing and hope are featured in this documentary. The poets include a Hurricane Katrina survivor and a woman who has suffered domestic abuse.
- Nashville: City of Dreams – This film profiles two established artists who chose to return to their Southern roots in Nashville after pursuing the typical big city dreams for their particular artistic pursuits. Vanderbilt alumnus James Threalkill describes why he decided to come home from Chicago and believed he could pursue his passion in Music City, and how the city has grown to support the artistic community. Julliard graduate David Alford offers a different perspective – expressing his frustrations about acting in a town that is mostly identified with music.
- Our Lady of Guadalupe – A behind-the-scenes look at Nashville’s first Spanish-speaking Catholic church that recently opened in December 2007, this film explores how this cultural space helps those new to the city feel more at home.
Vanderbilt’s Film Studies Program, Office of the Dean of Students and The Commons are sponsoring the event.
Visit http://www.vanderbilt.edu/filmstudies/vsff.html for a schedule of the Vanderbilt Student Film Festival screenings.
Media Contact: Princine Lewis, (615) 322-NEWS
princine.lewis@vanderbilt.edu