2016 marks the fifth year of the ASUNM Southwest Film Center’s Cherry Reel Film Festival, previously known as the UNM Student Film Festival, and it will be the largest yet after organizers received the most submissions the event has ever seen.
William Martin Dole, executive director of the ASUNM Southwest Film Center, said the festival reached a total of 53 submissions this year, compared to 30 submissions last year and 11 from the year before.
The record number comes as a result of hard work by the SWFC team to market the event, Dole Said.
“We accomplished this by visiting film and arts classes, as well as contacting departmental email list-servs, tabling at various locations on campus and through a number of social media campaigns,” he said.
Student filmmakers who contributed to last year’s festival also had an impact, as they spread information about the festival through word-of-mouth.
Another reason for the increased submissions may be due to a sponsorship from Canon USA, which provides a big appeal to students, and aspiring professional filmmakers, when submitting their work.
SWFC officials also expect a bigger student turnout to the festival itself — which is on Saturday — thanks to free admission and refreshments via the SWFC and Residence Hall Association.
The first three years of the film festival saw an average of 11 film submissions, Dole said, but he has said he has no doubt that the increased number of submissions will not be the peak for the event.
“The festival has become more credible over the past few years,” he said, “and the SWFC team will continue to improve each year to aid the student filmmaking population.”
ASUNM Director of Communications Gabe Gallegos said the SWFC looks for ways to take the Cherry Reel Festival to the next level every year.
“We have been excited to see record levels of submissions to the festival and are looking forward to showing our participants’ work to the UNM community,” he said. “Every year, the festival is gaining more attention and engagement.”
Dole said the festival has had a large impact on UNM, as it allows the community to get out of their respective areas of study and see the work their peers create, whether as part of a class or for their own experience.
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“The film festival definitely provides positive energy to campus, as the stories told through film tackle stories from all walks of life,” Dole said. “The messages and stories in each film allow us to connect and unite as students as humans, as many of the films explore meaningful subject matter that you can easily relate to.”
Due to the increased submissions, he said the impact the festival has on UNM will continue to grow as the festival continues to become bigger and better, a direct result of the festival receiving more submissions.
“The cast and crew will naturally bring more people to the actual event, and with the festival receiving more publicity and visibility over the past few years, we hope to expand the festival in the future,” Dole said, “Potentially, we could have multiple nights of the festival in future years if it continues to expand the way it has been.”
A student does not have to be a film major to submit work to the festival.
“Our only requirement is that you are an undergraduate student who had a large role in the filmmaking process, such as the director, producer or editor of the film,” Dole said.
A word of advice to future students who submit to the film festival would be to attend the festival and be inspired by their fellow Lobos, he said.
Out of the submissions selected for the festival, there is not one film that is similar to another, Dole said.
“Every film has something new to offer and teach fellow filmmakers, and that is the point of the Cherry Reel Film Festival,” Dole said.
Gallegos said the SWFC has worked hard to market the submission opportunity for the Cherry Reel Film Festival to a wide variety of students at UNM.
“They’ve gone to classrooms to speak about the festival, along with trying other creative marketing measures to spread the word about the festival,” he said. “We applaud all of the student filmmakers who submitted their work, and hope they will continue to push their limits of their skills and creativity.”
Nichole Harwood is a news reporter at the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Nolidoli1.
