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Organizers gear up for debut of Bismarck film festival

By   /   March 9, 2012  /   No Comments

There’s a reason they call it “movie magic.” Moviemaking is both art and industry. Billions of dollars are spent each year by consumers eager to see the latest blockbusters at multiplexes.

But filmmaking extends beyond big box offices, into art films screened in small theaters or on college campuses, shorts produced on YouTube that generate millions of views and media clips that tell the latest stories on nightly news programs.

(Photo by Matt Bunk) Paris Wiest (right), a senior at BHS, works on a video production while her instructor Andrew Fischer offers guidance to several other students in his multimedia class.

For filmmaking to reach such heights, it needs an army of fans, not only in the audience, but behind the camera, producing, acting, directing and writing. Movie magic requires a whole lot of collaboration, and it requires a guiding force to bring that many people together.

For Bismarck-Mandan, that guiding force may be the Dakota Digital Film Festival. Set to launch for what its creators hope will be its first year of many to come, it is envisioned as a festival to bring together a unique combination of competition, collaboration and creative content, encouraging both filmmaking and audio-video production in all forms by providing a venue for professionals and students to meet and display their work.

The impetus for the festival has its roots in discussions at Dakota Media Access, when the city of Bismarck was collecting public input for its strategic plan last year. The concept of a local film festival had bounced around the community for many years, but the idea finally took root, and the concept was brought to the Dakota Media Access board of directors.

“There’s certainly a financial risk involved in doing this, or making a commitment to making this happen,” said Mary Van Sickle, executive director at Dakota Media Access. “In these first couple of years, there’s a real potential that it’s going to be a real investment on our side. We’ll be lucky if it breaks even. We can only hope. But they’re willing to take that step.”

Van Sickle asked two of the on-air talents at Dakota Media Access to be co-chairs of the festival.

Jackson Bird and Anita Casey-Reed host their own show, “Reel Retro,” which presents a discussion on public domain movies from the past.

For both co-chairs, the vision for this fledgling film festival is to bring together all of the amateur filmmakers and film appreciators in the area and strengthen that community by fostering relationships and encouraging networking.

“This is another way of showcasing people who are doing art in a different format,” Casey-Reed said. “And it allows people to see things they might not otherwise know is out there. You can see what your friends might have posted somewhere, but you might not know that the person three cubicles over from you is a fabulous filmmaker.”

With the festival’s open call for submissions from students and anyone interested in filmmaking, they hope to shine a spotlight on all the talent hidden in our area, which will reflect positively on the community as a whole.

“We do have a lot of people moving to North Dakota now who may not be familiar with the area.,” Bird said. “And so maybe these films will have a life past this festival, and folks could see that Bismarck, North Dakota, is not like the movie ‘Fargo.’ There’s more to it than just people freezing in snow all the time.”

This festival will emphasize education in its first year, as it tries to break new ground in the community. Invitations have been extended to student filmmakers from the local high schools and colleges to submit work and to attend the workshops, so that these aspiring producers can learn from area professionals.

“I would say that the educational component is something that we would like to hold onto,” Casey-Reed said, “because it’s very much about fostering the community, about fostering the appreciations and the skills.”

Andrew Fischer, broadcast journalism adviser and teacher from Bismarck High School, plans to bring about 40 students to the festival. His students already had a relationship with Dakota Media Access through producing the school’s BHS Update program, which airs on public access every Friday.

“We’ve got a pretty close dialogue between the two of us, so they just said we would love to have you guys come,” Fischer said. He leads his students in the production of news stories, but encourages any avenue of video production they might be interested in. And he’s opened up the festival to his students, if they would like to submit their own films for viewing .

Alysha Chmielewski, a junior at BHS, is working on a solo project for the film festival. She said she has become a quick convert to the joys of film production, after having been uncertain about the medium when she first signed up for Fischer’s multimedia class.

“Actually, getting into this class, I was kind of like, ‘This is not going to be for me,’” Chmielewski said. “I’m terrible with technology. Now, it’s one of my favorites. It’s just kind of fun to take raw footage and make it into something nice.”

Her classmate, Brittany Swenson, also a junior, said she hopes to pursue video production and broadcast journalism as a career.

“It’s like telling a story, and I like how you can see each side of a story,” Swenson said. “It’s just something that, for me, I’ve always grown up watching movies and wanting to be an actress. And I think this is a great way to use my creativity in a way that I want to, and make videos that I’m passionate about.”

Matt Fern, who founded The Creative Treatment, will present one of the daytime workshops, titled “Start to Finish Video in One Hour,” a look at the process of producing 10-second video clips, along with videographer Dave Diebel. “The audience will have the opportunity to participate in the presentation as members of the cast and crew,” Fern said. “We will offer helpful tips and direction regarding each stage of video production, from pre-production to postproduction.”

Shooting short films is a specialty of Fern’s, as the creator of the popular local YouTube series, The Daily Dakotan. “The main advantage of shooting short films is that they are a great way to experiment and grow as a filmmaker,” Fern said.

With so many volunteers working to launch the Dakota Digital Film Festival, the creators of the event hope they can spark the imaginations of some budding, young minds to dream big.

“My big dream is that, when we celebrate our 10th anniversary, we’re able to bring in that Oscar-winning director that got their start at the Dakota Digital Film Festival, and they’re our featured speaker,” Bird said. “That’s my dream. And then I’m going to say, ‘Yeah, man, we did it right.’”

-Kelly Hagen is features editor and a columnist for the Great Plains Examiner.

The film festival will take place March 30 at the Belle Mehus Auditorium. The day will be divided into two portions. An early session will be dedicated to workshops and student film screenings from 8:45 a.m. until 3 p.m. A second act at 6:30 p.m. will feature a reception and screenings of short films.

The deadline for submissions to the festival will be March 9. Any non-commercial film work will be considered, including PSAs, documentaries, music videos or any category or genre of short films, preferably less than10 minutes. Submissions can be sent to Dakota Media Access. E-mail Jim Kambeitz at or call 701-258-8767 for more information.

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