It's harvest season
Forget Cannes and Sundance. You don't have to leave Lawrence to get a taste of great new films. By Meredith Desmond, Jayplay writer
"You should start a film festival."
That's what local artist Ardys Ramberg told her friend Mark von Schlemmer in 1992. She had the idea to create a huge event celebrating and sharing the work of local artists, musicians, poets, and performers of all kinds. She named her festival the Harvest of Arts and planned to hold it annually in downtown Lawrence. That first year, Ramberg gathered some fellow artists together and put von Schlemmer, who had just finished his Master's degree in film, in charge of the of the film portion of the festival. "I knew that he was involved with films, so I thought he would be a good person to take that particular ball and run with it," Ramberg says.
Ramberg says.
Thirteen years later, the ball is still rolling. In fact, von Schlemmer's film festival is the only thing left of the Harvest of Arts, which has faded out in recent years because of time and work conflicts. Each year von Schlemmer takes charge as producer and programmer of the festival, traditionally held at the Granada, 1020 Massachusetts, with a music event following it. He views all entries, chooses and schedules the lineup and promotes the festival all by himself.
the festival all by himself. The focus of Harvest of Arts has always been to share local talent - therefore,
everything is free and non-competitive. von Schlemmer says he has always tried to keep everything casual, with no submission fees, no entry forms, and most importantly, free admission for the public. The show is free for him to put on (thanks, he says, to the graciousness of the Granada), and he relies completely on word of mouth publicity, save for a few posters and Internet postings. Even so, he says there has consistently been a very good turnout - so good that there's often a shortage of chairs at the Granada. This year should be no different. If you go to the festival tomorrow night, you'll probably see wildly varied entries, a goal von Schlemmer tries to meet each year. He says he is totally open with all of the entries, which keeps the lineup diverse. Anyone with a local connection and a film to show can enter the festival, and von Schlemmer chooses films based on what can fit in the festival's two-hour time limit.
can fit in the festival where "Part of my challenge is to find films that run the gamut - if you hate one, there will be one that you like," he says. And that's the point. von Schlemmer says he wants to expose the audience to genres and topics that they may have never seen before, a task that naturally falls into place because there are no restrictions on film entries. He accepts entries from filmmakers of all ages and all genres. Each year, there's a mix of representational experimental, narrative,
music videos, documentary, and animation films, to name a few. Although he says there are a few edgier films featured in this year's festival, he never wants to limit what the audience can see. The closest he has ever come to censorship is reorganizing the schedule and leaving more violent or provocative films for the last part of the festival. That way, parents who bring young children have the option to leave a bit early. But diversity is what the festival is all about, and von Schlemmer wants to give everyone a chance to share their neighbors' art.
The Harvest of Arts film festival
One of those diverse
The Harvest of Arts film festival will feature area filmmakers from the Lawrence and Kansas City area, so get out there and support your local artists. Here are the details:
including a butter knife, small plate, a group of forks and a napkin, get into a
When: Friday, October 1, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. (the show will start promptly at 7, so get there early)
Where: The Granada Theatre,
1020 Massachusetts
Cost: If you needed more incen-
tive, it's free
One of those diverse films that will be featured this year is "Table Setting", a short animation project by KU graduate student Shawn Roney. The premise is this: tableware,
Stick around after the festival to see The Sound You Say / The Esoteric / Buffalo Saints / Actors and Actresses perform. ($5)
fight about where on the table the knife should be. Roney says he entered the film in the festival to gain confidence and entertain the audience.
"It's always nice to see the audience's reaction. This is just kind of a silly little film, and if it makes people laugh, then it has succeeded, obviously," Roney says.
And who doesn't think a group of mischievous cutery is funny?
Roney's film will only take up about three minutes of the festival's entire 120-minute lineup, and you can bet there will be plenty of other films that will satisfy your appetite for local culture. So, head downtown tomorrow night
and see what 13 years of survival is all about. You never know,you could be getting a sneak preview of the world's next Steven Spielberg.
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