Fault Line Film Festival celebrates 10 years, goes online

Southeast Missouri State University's Fault Line Film Festival is set to celebrate 10 years of showcasing student filmmaking during an entirely online version of the Fault Line Film Festival April 10 through 18, according to a university news release.

Organizers shifted the normally weeklong festival and red carpet event into a virtual display of creativity, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We will be entirely online this year, having screenings and awards over a nine-day period from Friday, April 10, to Saturday, April 18," Fred Jones, professor of mass media and coordinator of the Festival, said in the release. "Each night will feature official selections and award winners in a different category. Screenings will be prerecorded and uploaded to YouTube at 7 p.m. each night. Each online event will be approximately one hour in length."

This year's virtual festival was not originally planned in this format, but gives students the opportunity to share their hard work and hours of effort, despite current circumstances, Jones said in the release.

"The creative freedom allowed by these projects help students explore new cinematic techniques, while also providing artistic collaboration with the talented actors and crew members on campus," Jones said.

The films can be viewed on the 10th Annual Faultline Film Festival's YouTube Channel. The online viewing schedule will be as follows:

• Friday, April 10: Best Comedy Award
• Saturday, April 11: Best Long Form Award
• Sunday, April 12: Best Animation and Best High School Award
• Monday, April 13: Southeast Showcase #1
• Tuesday, April 14: Southeast Showcase #2
• Wednesday, April 15: Best Alternative Award
• Thursday, April 16: Best Mystery/Suspense Award
• Friday, April 17: Best Drama Award
• Saturday, April 18: Best of Festival Award

The Festival began in 2009, and has grown from a small campus festival into one of the largest student film festivals in the Midwest, according to the release.

Jasmine Jones, a sophomore and Jackson native, entered her film, "Missing," about cases of missing persons, into this year's festival.

"I chose this subject because I thought it would be interesting to include aspects of missing persons cases into a short film. I wondered what it would be like to see someone that you recognize from a missing persons poster," she said in the release. "I believe it's important to enter films into festivals to get an audience. Without an audience, there wouldn't be any films. There are a lot of themes in my film and other students' films that can be applied to anyone's life and expand the way they think about the world."

Each film submitted by students is entered into one of seven categories: animation, comedy, drama, high school, long form, mystery/suspense or alternative, which is for films that do not fall into one of the other categories. An award for best film is given within each category, as well as an award for Best of Festival. In addition, an award is given to a film that showcases outstanding technical achievement, and another is given to a film the audience deems worthy. The awards are $250 per category and the Best of Festival winner will receive a $1,000 prize.

Jake McGruder, a junior mass communication major, TV and film option, from East Prairie, Missouri, sourced the talent for his film, "The Big Day," from the Cape Girardeau area.

"I found two incredible people in Cape through the River City Players and the River Campus who have been receptive and delightful to work with," McGruder said in the release. "Thankfully, we had about four or five months of pure postproduction, which gave a lot of time to work out the kinks of the script until it felt natural. Then, once we had a cast and crew, and locations were in place, really it's just been sitting back and letting the talented people do their work."

"Faultline has survived this long due to the hard work of the faculty committee, the tremendous financial support of the campus and community, and mostly because of the passion of the student filmmakers on our campus and throughout the region," Jones said in the release. "As long as there are students with a story to tell, we'll be here."

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