Fest to feature workshops, educational opportunities

The Sentinel-Record/Grace Brown PASSION FOR CINEMA: Jennifer Gerber, executive director for the Hot Springs Documentary Film Institute, speaks to the Hot Springs National Park Rotary Club Wednesday about the upcoming films and workshops scheduled for the 27th annual Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival. The nine-day festival will begin Oct. 19 at The Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa.
The Sentinel-Record/Grace Brown PASSION FOR CINEMA: Jennifer Gerber, executive director for the Hot Springs Documentary Film Institute, speaks to the Hot Springs National Park Rotary Club Wednesday about the upcoming films and workshops scheduled for the 27th annual Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival. The nine-day festival will begin Oct. 19 at The Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa.

Walking into the Crystal Ballroom at the Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa to speak to a Rotary Club on Wednesday, Jennifer Gerber, executive director of the Hot Springs Documentary Film Institute, noted that the room would be transformed into a global-class cinema in less than a week.

The Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival opens Oct. 19, and Gerber told the Hot Springs National Park Rotary Club that Hot Springs will be exposed to 127 films and meet about 80 filmmakers from across the globe for the 27th installment of the nine-day festival.

"(Filmmakers) are excited to come to Hot Springs," she said. "They're excited to show their films to an audience that is different from the coastal audiences they're used to seeing in New York and L.A. We have a reputation in Hot Springs for our festival as being filled with Southern hospitality. There is a reputation in the film community that we are a very special festival and filmmakers leap at the chance to attend and be a part of the screenings."

Gerber said Hot Springs' festival is the longest-running, all-documentary film festival in North America, "something we can be incredibly proud of."

"I look at that time that we have, I look back to the many volunteers, the board members, the community supporters, sponsors that have kept this organization going year after year, and it's an honor to be part of it this year," she said.

With a passion for education, Gerber said this year's festival will host several workshops for up-and-coming filmmakers and storytellers including a live storytelling class where participants will workshop a short form story and tell it live.

"This year we are launching our first ever emerging filmmaker retreat and what that means is we did a call for applications for filmmakers that are making their first or second feature to submit their project to us," she said. "During the opening week of our festival, we'll provide them with mentorship, some one-on-one training ... and our hope is to invest in young filmmakers as they're kind of struggling with their first project and eventually see them screen their films at our festival this year. It's something new that we're doing and I'm really incredibly proud of it."

Gerber said organizers launched the application for the retreat thinking maybe 20-30 filmmakers would respond but were overwhelmed when 116 applications were received.

"We had such a difficult time narrowing it down," she said. "So, we will have 10 filmmakers that will be at our film festival to help cultivate their projects to the next step."

The festival will include a virtual reality lounge where films shot in 360 degrees will be showcased, including two new promotional films by Visit Hot Springs.

"It's a way to travel the world without leaving your seat," she said. "It's a really special experience and we're proud to have it at our festival."

There will be four free screenings for students throughout the festival, though Gerber said the films are interesting and entertaining for all ages of filmgoers. The festival will also include family day on Oct. 21 that will feature a film about world-championship surfer Bethany Hamilton and an arts workshop presented by Emergent Arts.

Because she did not have the same opportunities to learn about filmmaking at an early age as area students have now, Gerber, a Lake Hamilton High School graduate, said she wants to ensure young people in the community have an experience where they can enter the world of cinema and, more importantly, "to inspire our young people to know that they have a story to tell.

"Hopefully we will see some of our own filmmakers within our community eventually put their films on screen," she said. "One of our filmmakers this year, Scarlett Gooch, has her film in the festival that she made at Lakeside and our programmers didn't know. They just accepted her film and I was really excited to see that her film was able to compete with all the other films. We're honored to show her film, as well."

Local on 10/12/2018

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