With entries ranging from a story about some young con women to a map that holds the key to a future world, the 2012 Statesboro Film Festival was an exciting evening for short film lovers of all genres.
So the Statesboro Herald and the Averitt Center for the Arts will team up again for the Fifth Annual 2013 Statesboro Film Festival to find and honor the best locally made films. The festival is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, April 11, at the Averitt Center in downtown Statesboro.
As in the past four years, the festival offers everyone a chance to do what Hollywood does — make your own film.
Matt Bankhead again will serve as event coordinator. He is a video producer for statesboroherald.com and the lead producer for the Statesboro Herald Report on Northland Cable and the Studio Statesboro vodcast.
“Overall, we are very pleased with how our first four festivals turned out,” Bankhead said. “One of our goals was to provide a creative outlet for filmmakers in the community. That’s our goal again this year. I really encourage everyone to give it a shot.”
Simply put, the Statesboro Film Festival wants your films.
Last year, top honors at the festival went to Brian Graves, an assistant professor in Georgia Southern University’s Communication Arts Department. His entry, “Save As…,” was a film about accepting death through the doldrums of everyday life. In the film, actor Michael Czech’s daily grind at the office is interrupted when he receives a mysterious message from his computer and is met by Jesus Christ waiting on the other side of the screen.
“I came up with the idea, and I knew it was a film I wanted to make, a film I believed in. And when I produced it, I really didn’t have a good venue for showing the film and was thrilled when I heard about (the Statesboro Film Festival),” Graves said about his Best Film-winning entry.
Bankhead said the festival is a great venue for not just experienced filmmakers to show their work, but for anyone who has always liked shooting video for fun but wants to take the next step.
“I urge anyone with an itch to see what they can do with a camera to give it a shot, ” said Jim Healy, the operations manager for the Herald. ”At the first festival in 2009, Beeka Regassa entered a film as an eighth-grader. He entered again last year as a junior at Statesboro High with two films and won the Best Editing award. It was amazing how much he grew as a filmmaker. He has a passion and it really comes across in his work. I look forward to seeing what he comes up with this year. ” 
Some of the basic submission rules for the festival include: all films can be no longer than eight minutes, there is an $18 submission charge and the deadline to submit a film is 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 5. Also, entered films cannot be shown on YouTube, Facebook or any other mass media site until after the April 11 festival.
All rules and information about the festival can be viewed at www.statesborofilmfestival.com – the festival's official website.
Selected films will be shown at the 2013 Statesboro Film Festival inside the Averitt Center on April 11. Awards will be given for Best Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Editing.
“Even if you don’t make a film, come to the festival,” Healy said. “For $5, you get to watch about a dozen films, enjoy a delicious catered intermission spread and have a great time.”