At each entrance of the Downing University Center, a large vertical banner greets passers-by, donning the WKU Film Festival details.
In the sparsely populated DUC theater, students and filmmakers gathered to view student films and a professional feature. Monday night’s feature was Nashville producer/director Zac Adams’ documentary about a sinister spirit that haunted the Bell family of Robertson County, Tenn., in the early 1800s.
The film festival, established in 1995 by professor and independent filmmaker Cory Lash, is different every year.
“Students needed an outlet for their work beyond just turning it in and getting a grade,” Lash said.
The free event was open to all filmmakers, including students, amateurs and professionals. The films are chosen in the spring and the entrants are eligible for awards. Each day this week, seminars will take place in Mass Media and Technology Hall room 232, facilitated by professional filmmakers. Nine students, chosen by Lash, will even get the chance to pitch a television show, of any genre, to industry judges. At 7 p.m. each night in DUC Theater, there will be film screenings followed by featured guests’ films and Q & A.
This year’s film categories include narrative, animation and short films.
Past categories have included music videos and documentaries and though student short films are usually the main premieres, popular feature-length films have screened at the Western Film Festival, including Gregg Hale’s “The Blair Witch Project” and Jefferson Moore’s “The Perfect Stranger.”
Lash said he thinks of the festival as a regional invitational.
“We accept entries from people in the Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee region,” he said. “And when we support festivals in those areas, they support us.”
Western has a notable list of alumni in the film industry. And many of them, like 2002 graduate Ken Cravens, return to encourage the students who sit in the seats they once occupied.
“I get excited around this time of year,” Cravens said. “Students just get more creative. I see improvements every year and I’m blown away.”
Cravens, a Lexington native moved to Los Angeles after graduation and has returned to the Western Film Festival every year since.
Dressed in a faded black button-down shirt and black pants, Cravens didn’t “go Hollywood,” a fact he’s proud of. He speaks softly, but excitedly, his face illuminating as he talks about his experience in the film production industry.
Though he has worked with mainstream companies including Disney, Lionsgate, MTV and Universal, Cravens said he prefers simplicity, reflecting on his adolescent summers in Bowling Green riding motor bikes by the water.
“In L.A., everything is different,” he said. “It’s entirely possible to lose your objective and blow your head up.”
But by working constantly and “being good to the craft,” Cravens remains focused.
His newest film “In a Spiral State” is Thursday night’s feature. And he said he’s looking forward to it.
“I love talking to the students and answering questions because I can still easily connect to where they are,” Cravens said. “I’m super-Indie and art house. I love stream-of-consciousness kinds of films and you can find that in places you’ve never expected … Western students have just that.”
For more information visit westernfilmfest.com
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