Film festival changes date, tickets on sale Monday

The Show Me Digital Film Festival has changed dates.

Originally scheduled for Feb. 24, the festival will now take place March 24 at Port Cape Gir-ardeau. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m., with the festival and after party lasting until closing. The switch was made due to some confusion and a scheduling conflict, said festival co-chairman Pat Bond.

Bond and his festival organizer partner Michael Huntington, said this year's festival will focus on local short films, and they expect this one to be the best in the festival's three-year history.

"We're trying to show the city and the region some of the talent we have here," Huntington told OFF Magazine last month. "We think we have a good slate of films. A lot of people have said they're going to come out ... and that's what we're looking at doing, just get the people out, entertain them with some films and get them involved in Southeast Missouri."

Last year a rift developed between Bond and Huntington, leaving Bond to organize the festival alone. Bond said he thinks that hurt the festival's quality, but this year will be different with both men working side-by-side.

The festival started in 2005 when Bond and Huntington, both local filmmakers, decided to put film on the map as a viable art form in Southeast Missouri. For the past two years Southeast Missouri State University provided space for the event, but no sponsorship. This year the organizers say moving away from the university campus will help them meet their mission more effectively by taking their venue downtown, the epicenter of the local art scene.

"We always wanted to come down here because we wanted to help vitalize the artistic scene down here," Huntington said.

This year's festival will include food, a cash bar and entertainment after the show in the form of a live band. The slate of local films that make up the festival will be ranked by local judges.

Ticket sales start Monday. Tickets can be purchase by contacting Bond at (573) 270-4769.

For more information on the festival, visit the Web site at www.showmefilmfest.com.

msanders@semissourian.com

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