The Palace Theater will be the site of the first Downtown Bryan Film Festival Saturday, July 21, beginning at 6:30pm. The festival will feature work of A&M Consolidated High School Audio Video Production alumni. The program has graduated students to film schools across the nation, beginning the careers of talented filmmakers. Working with the Downtown Bryan Association, Kent Juliff, Madeline Packard, Maurice Vellas, Cody Tatge are among those who served on the Film Festival’s board to help create a showcase event where Brazos Valley residents could see the work of alumni. Tatge explains that while there isn’t a huge film scene in the community, there are many local filmmakers with work worth seeing. Part of the reason the festival was created is to show the community that the filmmakers aren’t just in Los Angeles or New York or even Austin, they are also right here in the Brazos Valley.
Two of the program’s most recent graduates, Kent Juliff and Madeline Packard, were looking for a place where they could share the films they have been working on. It will also provide locals with the opportunity to see a different side of the film industry, outside of the movie theater.
“Film Festivals give people a chance to explore a different side of the big budget Hollywood films,” explains Tatge. “They are usually where the creators of those big budget Hollywood films get their start in the industry.”
Vellas and Tatge recently submitted a piece that was accepted into the Texas Film Festival; Juliff and Packard were the national winners of the SkillsUSA Video Product Development competition.
“This is the thing that they are most passionate about in life, and they really want to introduce it to the community, and not just their work but their peers’ work, to be seen,” says Tatge.
Saturday’s festival will host work only of alumni of the program. “That may be something that will change in the future,” explains Tatge, “but right now that’s our criteria. There have been a few attempts at a showcase but because it is in a high school setting, we usually have to edit the content that may be too mature for a high school environment.”
Attendance to the festival is free and open to all ages; any content that may be considered for “mature audiences” will include verbal disclaimers before the showing.
Cinema is a wonderful creative medium that has endless storytelling possibilities. There also is a solid chance the next big filmmakers will be there, and who doesn’t want to say, “I knew him back when” years from now?
Doors open at the Palace Theater at 6:30pm and films begin at 7pm. The public is encouraged to attend. For more information on the Downtown Bryan Film Festival, visit www.dtbff.com. – Alejandra Quinones
