ASHFIELD — Town Hall will be filled with movie lovers and local creators when the Ashfield Film Festival returns following two years of cancellations amid the pandemic.
The festival will be held Friday and Saturday, and will feature about 20 short films submitted by area residents.
“It’s a wonderful event supported by the whole community,” said organizer Christopher Seward. “A lot of love and effort from everyone goes into the film festival.”
Short films will be screened on Saturday starting at 7 p.m. Additionally, on Friday at 7 p.m., local filmmaker Randall Nickerson’s documentary “Ariel Phenomenon” will be shared. Nickerson, as director, and Seward, who served as writer and editor, will lead a question-and-answer session following the screening.
Rotten Tomatoes describes the film as exploring “an African extraterrestrial encounter witnessed by over 60 schoolchildren in 1994. As a Harvard professor, a BBC war reporter and past students investigate, they struggle to answer the question: ‘What happens when you experience something so extraordinary that nobody believes you?’”
Seward said “Ariel Phenomenon” is “a great allegory to all of us.” He said the film is more about people’s reactions than it is about extraterrestrials, and the themes presented are scenarios that plenty of people can relate to.
While Friday night will show professional work, Saturday night is the more popular event for attendees, Seward noted. Several submissions had to be rejected because of the overwhelming amount of short films that were received.
According to Seward, there will be a variety of genres represented, including horror. Four films were animated, including one that was made with stop motion technology — an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they appear to be moving when the series of frames is played back. There are also several youth entries that will be screened.
“The films are expressions of where people are in their lives,” Seward said.
Before Saturday’s event, the Ashfield Community Band will play popular movie theme songs starting at 5:45 p.m.
Tickets for both nights can be purchased for $5 at the Ashfield Hardware Store or online at the event’s website, ashfieldfilmfest.org.
Slightly fewer tickets are available this year due to ongoing COVID-19 health safety concerns, so people are encouraged to purchase tickets early. Any extra tickets will be available to buy at the door.
Bella Levavi can be reached at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com.