Brandon Moore
Pulse reporter
In the spring of 1979, SIUC students gathered in droves to witness the first Big Muddy Film Festival, a showing of progressive movie shorts in the newly built Student Center. What began as a small project has become a widely recognized endeavor that attracts films from around the world.
The planners of the annual event promise that this year will be no different. Brian Gallagher, a graduate student studying cinema and photography, said many of the Carbondale film community's favorite categories will be bigger and better than before.
"The crowd favorite is the midnight movie, which will be shown on Feb. 24, which is a Friday night. It's usually a cult classic like 'Brazil,'" Gallagher said of the 1984 comedy classic. "This year we will have two midnight showings."
Gallagher, the coordinator of the festival, said he thinks what makes the event so popular around the Midwest is the diversity and attraction of its categories, which include documentary, narrative, experimental and animation. Of the four, experimental attracts the bulk of patronage to the showings, Gallagher said.
"The experimental category is the films submitted that take a radical way of making a moving image, to the viewer its more like a moving painting" he said. "They usually have a lot of political emphasis."
While some enjoy the socially heavy films, the planners said they try to cater to all movie lovers. This year's festival has expanded the range of movies to include a younger demographic by a showing of the "Princess Bride" at University Theater 8.
"There tends to be a problem when a region only brings in a Hollywood film," Gallagher said of other festivals around the country. "When there are other venues that bring in something different, it can be somewhat troublesome for the smaller venue."
The showings may be small, but the accolade it offers is quite the opposite. The judges from past festivals have included foreign and domestic top-rung directors and short film actors from. With a judging cast of 16, Gallagher said judging the films may be the most difficult part of the planning process short of the film showing.
In addition to the category awards, a best-in-show monetary award called John Michaels Memorial honors the film that promotes political awareness and environmental issues.
The field of competition looks to rise to the challenge. This year's show will have both classics and crowd favorites, as well as competition films. This year's competition ranges from films such as "The Hole Story," a mockumentary about a bogus Minnesota investigation, to socially challenging flicks like "Disarm," a documentary on the antipersonnel land mines in Europe that kill innocent civilians to this day.
While widely known around the Midwest, Gallagher believes the festival has received its share of uncanny recognition.
"I got my undergraduate degree at a different school, and I can remember saying I was going to Southern, and most people didn't even know SIUC had a film program," he said. "Now when I mention Big Muddy Film Festival, everyone's eyes light up."
While Gallagher has always been a fan of the festival, he only recently experienced the months of work that go into planning and putting on a fully functioning, international event. With a workforce of 45 and an ample operating budget, the entire staff still has its hands full. Intricate business functions sometimes get lost in the fray. Many students don't even know about the festival until near the first day of showings, and even fewer still have any idea of the many locations of the festival. Fortunately, these obstacles do little to affect the turnout, which Gallagher said has remained steady in the last few years.
While the patrons may only experience the joys of the festival, it is the workers that see it from conception to fruition. The planning process, which is a year long, barely leaves enough time to plan the event itself. The judges, who are all seasoned film veterans, are invited from around the country. After which, more than 50 movies have to be played in a 10-day span without overlapping. To accommodate this huge query, the screening locations range from Murphysboro all the way to Paducah, Ky., with the bulk of the films being shown in the Student Center ballrooms and the University Theater 8.
While the outside community and film schools take pride in the internationally recognized event, some students believe that they have missed previous festivals because of the last minute advertising.
Sarah Dubach, a senior studying English from Ottawa, said she misses the showings every year.
"The first time I heard about it I saw an advertisement in the DE, but it's a regular promotion, so I saw it but it never registered with me until like a week afterwards," she said. "I blame myself for not noticing earlier."
Other students said it was their first time hearing about the festival. They stressed the time between finding out the festival schedule and attending the movies as crucial to gaining more attendees.
Roberto Calispa, a senior studying aviation from Chicago, is one of them.
"I didn't even know they had movies like 'Disarm,'" he said. "Those kind of movies not only bring out the fun but make it important that students see them."
Even with a large staff and volunteers at their side, the planners said they still are overworked. Between showings and judging, they have their hands full.
"It takes so much energy, the judges demand a certain caliber of film in order to award a production," Gallagher said, "and this is the part of the festival that most people don't know exists."
Among the various fliers and posters in the Student Center, the largest promotion of the festival is a large banner that is placed on the corner of Illinois and Grand avenues. Of the students that are reminded of the Big Muddy Film Festival, Gallagher said the banner plays a large part.
"There is something special when the banner goes up for the campus to see, you can kind of feel the buzz in the air," he said.
Coordinator said the student participation the advertising brings is something that makes the hard work worth it. It is the patrons that are the reason that the event has been celebrated for 28 years, and Gallagher said the support is not just emotional. Some students actually attend most if not all of the 56 showings that take place during the event. The V.I.P. passes, which sell for $25, are also very popular not only with student film buffs but also with the community. Some students give donations, others support the apparel that the festival sells.
"We've had very fashionable designs with the T-shirts and are expanding it this year with the additions of baby tees for ladies," Gallagher said. "Nothing too racy, but to ensure we are addressing our entire demographic."
Gallagher said the generosity is bottomless when it comes to the event. And while the festival sells merchandise and charges for its showings, the public's love for the films helps them organize the festivities each year. The planners said they recommend donations, but they usually don't bother the patrons. It's the films and the heart that touch the fans that inspire their support.
Gallagher said his first year experience as the film's director is one that will not be overshadowed.
"I know it sounds a little clichÇ, but this experience has been nothing short of the best one I've had in my life. To be able to give life to something with a legacy, such as this, is amazing," Gallagher said. "Directors who coordinate this festival go on to huge city festivals, Chicago, St. Louis, but nothing can make me feel the satisfaction I do with the Big Muddy, to see the faces in the crowd, the faculty's satisfaction. It's all surreal."
