Search

ARCHIVES
CONTACT US
WORLD NEWS

Local station sponsors independent film broadcast

On Saturday night, local television viewers will be given a glimpse into the world of independent film with the Arizona Media Arts Center's "Independent Visions 2000" broadcast on Channel 58 KWBA at 7 p.m.

"It's a sampler of different visions in independent film," Producer Karen Silverstein said. "At the end of the show, viewers will have a mosaic of independent film and where it's going."

Silverstein is also a board member at the Arizona Media Arts Center, which sponsors the Arizona International Film Festival every April. She said the role of "Independent Visions 2000" works on multiple levels.

"The goal of the two-hour show is not an advertisement for the film festival," Silverstein said. "It is to educate the audience about what independent film is, and an educated audience is better for the festival."

Both the center and KWBA contributed their resources in order to make it appealing to audiences not familiar with independent film.

"The project is a team effort between the Arizona International Film Festival providing the legwork, and we provide the talent," Staci Earl, programming and marketing manager for KWBA said. "It's all on donated time."

One hundred pieces were submitted to the festival this year, and Silverstein said it was difficult to narrow it down to the 10 short films featured in the program.

"The films in this broadcast are all competing in the film festival and their selection was based on whether they would appeal to a television family audience," Silverstein said. "There could not be any foul language, gratuitous violence or explicit sex - that cut the field in half."

The 10 short films - chosen by Silverstein and other producers - include a work from four University of Arizona media arts seniors.

Vanessa Garland, Christina Wood, Toshi Takatsuka and Casey Dexter, all in the UA Bachelor of Fine Arts program, produced their documentary, "Nowhere, Arizona," as a class project.

Takatsuka said the project cost $30 - the price of the tape.

"(The broadcast) is a great opportunity for student filmmakers to show our work on public television," he said. "If it happens more that'd be great."

Earl said the other films feature different genres including comedy, drama and documentary.

"It's a nice variety to air and give viewers an idea of what's showing at the festival," Earl said.

According to producers, there are four aspects to the broadcast - the films, introductions from the featured filmmakers, vignettes of locals involved with the project and images of the hosts walking through downtown Tucson.

"The purpose is to show the faces of Tucson filmmakers and of independent film making in general," Silverstein said. "They are diverse in ethnicity and gender - the whole thing is that there isn't just one face."

Chris Gaines, a winner from last year's Reel Frontier competition in the Arizona International Film Festival, is one of the local filmmakers interviewed in the broadcast.

"I think it's good for the community," he said. "It shows underrepresented types of film."

Joan Lee, host of KWBA's "The Buzz" and 104.1 KZPT's Kathy Rivers will host the broadcast on KWBA Channel 58 (Cable 8) on Sat. April 1 from 7 to 9 p.m.