I t's that time of year again. Flowers bloom. Animals wake from their winter slumber and begin their lovemaking. And the members of the University's filmmaking community emerge from their subterranean workplaces and reveal the fruits of their labor in a beautiful phenomenon called the Salmagundi Film Festival.
Salmagundi is a tradition that has been continually growing in popularity since its establishment 11 years ago. The boost in the University's interest in filmmaking has been an exciting thing to watch over the years. Much credit for this is owed to the FilmMakers' Society, a University organization that has been persistently helping to push the development of Charlottesville's film scene.
Salmagundi's organization is headed by two FMS members: third-year College student Laura Scott, FMS General Manager and fourth-year College student Steve Robillard, FMS vice president of publicity. The festival's coordination has been an exhausting task, ranging from Web design to flyering to film selection. The directors have worked hard to get the word out to the community in order to make this the biggest festival yet.
"I've been really happy about how everything has worked out," Scott said. "We all make a great team and I'll be sad to see some of these guys go at the end of the semester."
The festival is divided into three primary features. The longs program includes three films by University students with an overall running time of about 40 minutes. One of these is a documentary titled "People" submitted by third-years Steven Quinn and Pooya Jahanshahi concerning D.C.'s homeless population.
The shorts program then presents 11 films of shorter length, altogether running about 80 minutes. These shorts include entries from other schools in the area such as James Madison University, Virginia Commonwealth University and Virginia Tech. The shorts run in various festival competitions, and a few filmmakers will be going home with some hot prizes.
The third feature is a seminar by University Prof. Hugh Wilson, Jr., director of such films as Police Academy and The First Wives Club. The session will be primarily Q&A oriented so that audiences will have the opportunity to get answers from someone with experience in the industry.
A new addition to this year's festival is the incorporation of a theme. Salmagundi has always been about diversity, encouraging filmmakers to submit work of all kinds.
"So, naturally, we ran through a few ideas and came up with candy," Scott said. "The candy shop of student film, where your mind treats itself to a variety of colors and tastes."
The directors have worked the candy theme into all aspects of the festival
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