Carrboro Film Festival featured 33 short films

The Carrboro Film Festival brought a little bit of Hollywood out of Carrboro Sunday.

The festival featured 33 short films ranging from professional videos and student submissions to animation and music videos.

“It’s a great opportunity for local filmmakers to see their movies on a big screen and for their fans to see them,” said Jackie Helvey, co-founder of the festival.

“We just want the community to come and recognize all the talent around here and watch movies and enjoy them.”

Helvey said the films are not selected solely based on quality.

“Just because a movie isn’t being screened, doesn’t mean it’s not a good movie — it just means we don’t have time to show them all,” Helvey said.

The films were played in three 82- to 90-minute blocks, featuring about 10 randomly selected films per block. After each section, the audience and filmmakers took part in a 20-minute question-and-answer session.

UNC professor Brian Southwell’s film “So Now Look” was featured at the festival. The film tells the story of a blind a cappella group that has been working for tips in Philadelphia’s train stations since 1992.

“Putting the documentary together took a lot of hard work and trust-building — but also was a lot of fun,” Southwell said in an email.

“The Carrboro Film Festival is intended to build community, which is something I value, and so I submitted a piece of mine for consideration.”

Mimi Schiffman, a UNC alumna, had two films featured at the festival, “Just a Word” and “Love = Love,” which focused on marriage equality and Amendment One legislation.

“It started with a campaign that’s happening right now called the ‘We Do’ campaign, and they have couples go in and ask for a marriage license knowing that they’re going to get denied,” Schiffman said.

“I got interested in their campaign and then simultaneously the issue of marriage equality here came up and it felt like the time was right to delve into that topic.”

Schiffman said the films were released on The Huffington Post before Amendment One was passed in May.

“Just a Word” follows Charlotte couple Jeff and Brian Helms as they travel to the closest place they could legally marry, Washington D.C.

“Love = Love” tells the story of Isak Atkins Pearcy, a 12-year-old who fought alongside his parents and his junior high Gay-Straight Alliance to defeat Amendment One.

“There’s a lot of power to seeing a personal story ­­— to getting to know somebody a little bit better, to seeing different sides of their personality,” Schiffman said.

“Then from the personal point of view you can understand a larger issue and contextualize the larger issue through the personal story.”

Contact the desk editor at arts@dailytarheel.com.