The Hopkins Film Festival reels in the cinephiles

The Johns Hopkins Film Festival, a three-day event founded in 1998 by Hopkins undergraduates and still completely run by students, makes it way onto the big screen in Shriver for the sixth year all this weekend.

Although Hopkins isn't widely known as a bastion for aspiring filmmakers, in 1964 the university did graduate one Mr. Wes Craven, famous director of horror films including Nightmare on Elm Street and the Scream trilogy.

Since then, however, undergraduate interest in film and media has grown markedly, and the Hopkins Film festival, funded solely by submission fees charged to entrants, one of only three film festivals held yearly in Maryland, is much anticipated by the local film community.

I recently chatted with Sean Ruch, a film and media studies major and a social events chair for the Johns Hopkins Film Society, the official student group that organizes the festival. Without further ado, here is the feature scoop on this annual campus event.

In case of emergency: walk, do not run, to the nearest exit. And please, no talking.

N-L: When does the Film Society first start planning for the festival?

SR: We start getting submissions starting in October and the deadline is January 31.

N-L: How many make the cut?

SR: We got around 120 submissions and we accepted about 10 features plus several shorts for the experimental, animation, and student filmed programs.

N-L: How important is the Hopkins Film Fest in the scope of the Maryland film world?

SR: We're one of three film festivals in the state, the other two are Microcinefest and the Maryland Film Festival. We're probably more similar to Microcinefest, in that Maryland Film Festival caters to a more professional audience.

N-L: How do you pick what is shown?

SR: We try to pick things that won't get shown too many other places. We can go for low budget things that are good rather than big budget ones that are good

N-L:Where do the submissions come from?

SR: Most are from Baltimore and Maryland but we get some from all around the world too. There were a few from England, Germany and Australia this year.

N-L: What off the wall submission didn't make the cut?

SR: We got a submission that was a documentary made by this guy who was a cult leader or something. I don't think he actually had a cult, I think he was just crazy.

The whole movie was just him babbling about his theories about demon worship. That one did not make the cut.

N-L: Have any past Hopkins film festival entrants gone on to win any industry awards?

SR: Two years ago we had a documentary that went on to be shown at the Slamdance festival where it won best documentary and then the filmmakers went on to start their own festival.

N-L: What is new or different about the festival this year?

SR: Not much. There are different people running it this year so their different tastes are reflected, but the festival itself has been pretty consistent.

N-L: If people could only come see one evening's worth of film, what do you recommend they absolutely not miss?

SR: Afro-Punk is a really good documentary that is doing really well in a lot of film festivals and the animation shorts are always fun. Prison A Go-Go, a feature-length, campy, low-budget zombie prison film is another good one.

The festival will be held in Shriver Hall April 8-11. See http://www.jhu.edu/~jhufilm/fest/ for a complete listing of showtimes.

Admission is free for JHU students, faculty and employees with an ID, otherwise admission is $3 per show, $5 for a day pass and $15 for a festival pass.