The 10th Annual Ozark Foothills FilmFest will announce the schedule for the festival on Tuesday, February 22, at 11:00 a.m. at the Batesville Area Arts Council Gallery, 246 E. Main.
The artwork used for this year’s poster, website, and program cover is from “Summer on the Farm” by water colorist Jim Oberst of Hot Springs Village. The artist expressed his enthusiasm at the selection, “Ever since I began painting, one of my favorite subjects has been the Arkansas countryside. I’m really pleased that one of these paintings has been chosen as the 2011 Ozark Foothills FilmFest branding image.” Oberst’s painting style is impressionistic realism that achieves the transparency and impact only possible in watercolor. His paintings have won numerous awards and can be found in collections in nineteen states and Canada. His work will also be shown at the Batesville Area Arts Council Gallery March 8 through 27. Admission to the gallery is free; the public is invited to attend the unveiling. Copies of the poster will be available at the unveiling and at the festival for $10. Posters will also be available at www.ozarkfoothillsfilmfest.org for $12, beginning February 22. Posters are mailed in a damage-proof tube.
The 10th annual Ozark Foothills FilmFest takes place at a number of venues in Batesville, including UACCB, Lyon College, Old Independence Regional Museum, and the restored historic Landers Theater, now the home of the Fellowship Bible Church. The festival features the return of the incredible Alloy Orchestra. The three-musician group composes and performs new scores to accompany screenings of classic silent films. In the words of one film critic, “The lush, titanic scores they are able to produce before the viewer’s very eyes are almost unbelievable, like a stupendous sonic magic trick.” They will be playing their new score for the classic German silent film, Metropolis, directed by Fritz Lang. Leonard Maltin calls the newly-restored film “a mad masterpiece.”
Other festival highlights include the premiere of Defining Beauty: Ms. Wheelchair America, a thought-provoking documentary about five women with disabilities on their way to the annual pageant, where beauty is defined through the lens of perseverance and advocacy. Director Alexis Ostrander and producer Molly Kasch will attend. Also attending is director John Schwert, whose multi-narrative drama In/Significant Others navigates through the different lives of one city’s residents, each of whom is connected to the same local homicide investigation. As always, the festival line-up includes a wide range of animation, documentaries, short films, and independent features; approximately two dozen filmmakers will attend, many from Arkansas. The festival will also host the 4th annual Screenwriting Competition Awards Ceremony; more than fifty screenplays were submitted to this year’s competition.
Complete festival details will be available at www.ozarkfoothillsfilmfest.org beginning February 22. Foothills Film Society memberships will also be available through website. Members receive admission discounts to all screenings, as well as invitations to two private catered receptions honoring this year’s guest filmmakers and screenwriters. Basic individual memberships are $25. Supporting memberships are $100 and include discounted admission for four to screenings, as well as admission for two to “Members Only” social events.
The Ozark Foothills FilmFest has been chosen for the second straight year as one of the Top 20 Tourism Events for March by the Southeast Tourism Society, a regional consortium dedicated to the promotion of travel to and within the Southeastern states, recognizing the importance of festivals, events, and attractions in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Visit www.southeasttourism.org or www.escapetothesoutheast.com for more information.
Ozark Foothills FilmFest, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit corporation founded in 2001. First Community Bank is the festival’s Founding Sponsor. Major sponsors include the National Endowment for the Arts, the Arkansas Arts Council, FutureFuel Chemical Company, Atlas Asphalt, Midwest Lime, Citizen’s Bank, WRD Entertainment, KFFB 106.1 FM, the Independence County Quorum Court, the Ozark Gateway Tourist Council, Life in the Ozarks, Eye on Independence, and Oxford American magazine.
