ASHFIELD — Town Hall will transform into “Hillywood” for two days as local filmmakers present their work during this year’s Ashfield FilmFest, with a new award shining a spotlight on female filmmakers.
Numerous directors and filmmakers have submitted their projects for this year’s event, with organizers saying nearly 30 films will be shown. To qualify for the 18th annual festival, the finished products must be five minutes or less, and have either been made by someone from the western Massachusetts hilltowns or connect to the hilltowns in some way (such as being filmed in the area).
These films will be shown on Saturday, Sept. 19, with doors at Town Hall opening at 6:30 p.m. before the movies start at 7 p.m. Before doors open, the Ashfield Community Band will provide music outside starting at 5:30 p.m.
“The origins of the Ashfield FilmFest, the first years, it was films made in or about Ashfield, but [now] it has broadened out to being … about the hilltowns,” said Lynn Dole, an organizer of the event. “The members of the committee … are a well-oiled conglomerate of people. Some folks are very involved with film, and others, like myself, don’t know much about film, but I love being part of community activities.”
The preceding evening of entertainment, on Friday, Sept. 18, is slightly different, with one feature film being shown. This year, the organizing committee decided on the documentary “Girl Climber,” a film that follows professional rock climber and mountaineer Emily Harrington through her experiences and successes in the male-dominated sport.
Following the documentary screening, a panel will take place featuring Jenn Flemming, another professional climber, and Aisha McAdams, an ultrarunner who is the focus of her own documentary, “Learning to Fly.” The two will discuss their experience of competing and excelling in sports that are male-dominated. Also present on the panel will be Ashfield native Galen Knowles, who served as an executive producer on “Girl Climber.”
For the Friday night event, Ashfield FilmFest is partnering with the Western Massachusetts Climbers’ Coalition, a nonprofit volunteer climbers’ organization that works to build relationships with diverse advocacy groups, state and local governments, landowners and conservation groups to keep climbing areas open and accessible to climbers from all backgrounds, and to conserve the climbing environment in western Massachusetts.
Knowles entered the Ashfield FilmFest himself when he was younger, with organizer Tamara Sloan saying the event provides a great place for young filmmakers to show their work and perfect their craft.
“I think he won an award as a young person in 2009, filming skiing and stuff like that, then he’s gone on and grown up through the film fest to become a professional filmmaker,” Sloan said. “There are several folks like that that we’re very proud to have played a part in their finding the careers and what they love to do. … In discussion, [Knowles] humbly mentions that he has a film that is out.”
This year, nine trophies will be awarded to those who entered films for Saturday’s showing. According to Sloan and Dole, the number of trophies and prizes typically range from six to eight per year, but this year there are nine, with the inaugural “Hillywood Award” being presented to the best female or female-identifying filmmaker. The focus of the Hillywood Award will vary from year to year.
Other prizes being awarded are the Audience Choice Grand Prize Award, Best Documentary, Best Narrative and Best Actor, to name a few. After deciding on the Friday feature film, Sloan said the board of volunteers decided to dedicate the Hillywood Award to female filmmakers.
“We thought, ‘OK, let’s work with that theme and carry it forward into Saturday,'” she said.
The grand prizes are for $500, with recipients of the Hillywood Award and the Audience Choice Grand Prize Award having the distinction of receiving the largest sum. All other awards pay out $250, amounting to a total of $2,000 in cash prizes. Additionally, the winner of the Audience Choice Grand Prize Award will have their name added to the Baby Cecil trophy, made in the early years of the film fest in the likeness of Cecil B. DeMille, the legendary filmmaker and actor who was born in Ashfield.
“It’s kind of like the Stanley Cup — it travels around and every year, the person who won the Audience [Choice Grand Prize Award] gets their plaque on [Baby Cecil],” Sloan noted.
Organizers say it would be worthwhile for community members to attend both days of the Ashfield FilmFest, as there won’t be too much that’s similar between Friday and Saturday.
“Folks who come to the Saturday night showing are often folks who maybe had some piece in it … and just love to be part of that community experience,” Dole said. “So the two nights, you have two different experiences. There’s always the Friday night feature with a panel discussion that gives some perspective to the film that people are watching, and the highlight of Saturday night is that the audience gets to vote on the audience grand prize.”
Tickets for Friday night of the Ashfield FilmFest can be purchased at events.humanitix.com/ashfield-filmfest-girl-climber and Saturday tickets can be purchased at events.humanitix.com/ashfield-filmfest-short-film-competition. For more information, visit ashfieldfilmfest.org.
