Spend an evening watching documentaries and feature films created by some of the region’s most talented young filmmakers, and, even better, do it for free. Film fans can enjoy a variety of selections during the Foothills Film Festival, which takes place at Pellissippi State Community College on April 7.
Now in its fourth year, the film festival is a video production competition for middle and high school students. Teams from five high schools have entered this year’s competition: Alcoa High School, Anderson County High School, Greeneville High School, Loudon County High School and Maryville High School.
The teams’ documentaries, feature films and public service announcements—each of which runs two to five minutes—will be screened and judged during the festival. Eleven entries will be screened, and winning entries will be announced at festival’s end. The judges are six local members of the media industry.
Members of the team that achieves the Best of Festival designation will each receive a four-semester scholarship to study Video Production Technology at Pellissippi State. VPT is one of four concentrations in the Media Technologies program. Additional concentrations are Communication Graphics Technology, Photography and Web Technology.
Scholarships are made possible by the Pellissippi State Foundation. Recipients must apply the scholarship toward the Video Production Technology concentration and must maintain a 3.0 GPA.
Previous Best of Festival winners and scholarship recipients are teams from Greeneville High School (2010 and 2008) and Maryville High School (2009). The Foothills Film Festival was created by Lisa Berry, technology coordinator of Alcoa City Schools; Maelea Galyon, technology coordinator of Maryville High School; Archer Coppedge II, technology coordinator of Alcoa City Schools; and Kevin Myers, technology coordinator of Maryville Middle School.
Serving as emcee for this year’s Foothills Film Festival is local actor David Dwyer, who has appeared in movies such as “The Blind Side” and “October Sky.”
The event, which is open to the public, begins at 6 p.m. in the Clayton Performing Arts Center on the Pellissippi Campus, 10915 Hardin Valley Road. Parking is convenient and free.
To request accommodations for a disability, contact Ann Satkowiak at (865) 539-7153 or asatkowiak@pstcc.edu.
For additional information about the Foothills Film Festival scholarship or other available scholarships, contact Peggy Wilson, Pellissippi State’s vice president of College Advancement and executive director of the Pellissippi State Foundation, at (865) 694-6403 or foundationoffice@pstcc.edu.