What is the difference between independent and undependent filmmaking?
Experiments in Cinema 5.1 might give you a better idea.
It’s a film festival in its fifth year, put on by Cinematic Arts professor Bryan Konefsky, and his class Experimental Film and Video. Eli Wentzel-Fisher is taking the class and helping out with the film festival.
“Bryan talks a lot about independent cinema, and he feels that what we’re doing is one step removed from that which he called ‘undependent cinema,’” Wentzel-Fisher said. “For instance, there is no funding. They’re doing all their own work, they probably did everything from shooting to editing. The crews are very small.”
Wentzel-Fisher has studied at UNM since 2003 and said each year the festival grows.
“Our first festival took place over maybe two nights,” he said. “And then it grew into three nights. This year we’re at six nights. Our first night was on Saturday which was an exhibition of high school and middle school student works.”
The festival will show 50 films from 13 countries. Half of the films were made by women, Wentzel-Fisher said.
“There are films ranging in length from 1/24th of a second to 30 minutes long,” he said. “It’s a single frame by a Mexican filmmaker, and it’s sort of a joke when you think about it in terms of film theory because the idea is that you never see a single or autonomous frame.”
There was no submission fee for the artists.
“It’s sort of a special festival because most festivals, specifically in this country charge a submission fee of anywhere from 10 to several hundred dollars to submit a film to a festival,” he said. “The film then goes through judication and may or may not be screened … We also offer some sort of cash stipend to the filmmakers that we’ve chosen. It’s not a lot of money, but we do give them something to show our appreciation.”
The festival runs today through Thursday at different locations around town including the Guild and the National Hispanic Cultural Center. They’re holding workshops throughout the week and some directors will speak before the screenings.
For locations and show times visit BasementFilms.org
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