“INSTEADOF DOING THREE DAYS, LET’S FOCUS ON ONE DAY BEINGGREAT.” LISA WASIAK, PROGRAM DIRECTOR
NONPROFIT
From left: Charlene Grant, Lisa Wasiak, Lisa Welch and Cindy Weigand help lead the GTX Film Festival. (Eddie Harbour/Community Impact Newspaper)
GTX FilmFestival Group excited for back-to-back in-person events A fter several years of trying to launch a lm-centric confer- ence in Georgetown, Cindy a kicko event the previous night to get the festivities rolling. The group will continue to accept submissions until May 31 in nine di erent catego- ries for this year’s festival. “We are going to be one day this BY EDDIE HARBOUR
PRIZED POSITION While the process of judging winners may seem arbitrary to many, the GTX Film Festival grades its entrants in nine categories: • originality/creativity • direction • writing • cinematography • performances • production value • pacing • structure • sound/music NINE CATEGORIES This year, the GTX Film Festival is accepting submissions through May 31 in nine di erent categories for its Oct. 1 festival: • Narrative feature • Narrative short • Documentary feature • Mobile short • Foreign lm • Foreign short • Student lm • Student short • Youth short DATES &DEADLINES May 31 End of regular submission July 31 Selection noti cation Oct. 1 Film festival
Weigand said she knew she needed to pivot, so three years after rst envi- sioning a nonpro t-run lm event in Georgetown, she spearheaded the inaugural GTX Film Festival. On Oct. 1, Weigand and her team will hold the fourth iteration of the festival that has evolved and changed since that rst e ort. “In 2019 we did the rst one, and it was fun to meet all the lmmakers, and I think everybody had a good time. It was a good way to start out,” Weigand said. “We had about 200- 300 people come out; we kind of lost count after a while, honestly. And then comes COVID-19.” So while the GTX team would have liked to have seen some attendance growth in year two at City Lights, the local 12-screen movie theater that hosts the event, they were forced to hold a virtual festival via social media due to the pandemic. In 2021, though, they held a hybrid event of virtual and in-person screenings in September over three days and are now on track for its rst years of back-to-back, in-person events. This year, the group has pared that down to one day of screenings with
year because we are a small crew, and we realized, as lofty as our goals are, it becomes really di cult to wrangle two, three days of lms,” said Lisa Wasiak, the group’s program director. “Instead of doing three days, let’s focus on one day being great. It feels really manageable for us.” In addition to showcasing an array of Texas lms, GTX also o ers free submissions in the Youth Short category for those age 17 and under. “The [young lmmakers] get to meet a lot of lmmakers when they are at the festival,” GTX Vice President Charlene Grant said. “The lmmakers are very accessible, and I can’t think of one time where a lmmaker didn’t want to talk to somebody that wanted to talk.” Overall, GTX aims to keep its sub- mission and admission fees generally reasonable when compared to other area festivals. “A ordability is a big thing for us,” Weigand said. “We want people to be able to come enjoy the lm, and we don’t want it to be expensive for the lmmakers to submit.”
The awards for the inaugural GTX Film Festival are seen. (Courtesy Lisa Welch)
FIlmmakers and fans mingle at the 2019 GTX Film Festival. (Courtesy Lisa Welch)
WILLIAMS DR.
RIVERY BLVD.
GTXFILMFESTIVAL https://gtx lmfestival.godaddysites.com CITY LIGHTS 420 Wolf Ranch Parkway, Georgetown https://georgetown.citylightstheatres.com
WOLF RANCH PKWY.
35
UNIVERSITY AVE
29
N
23
GEORGETOWN EDITION • FEBRUARY 2022
Powered by FlippingBook