ASHFIELD — It’s not just for Ashfielders any more.
This fall’s annual Ashfield Film Festival will include short films created by Buckland and Shelburne residents, for the first time. Well, it was always open to the rest of the world — as long as their films referenced Ashfield.
The 12 year-old festival, which has screened 150 short films from Ashfield, about Ashfield, or mention Ashfield in some way, is looking north by northeast, even though its roots are still in the town where pioneering film director Cecil B. DeMille was born in 1881. (He immediately left with his mother, who had been visiting. But the festival’s winner is awarded the Baby Cecil trophy.)
“We’ve enjoyed the brilliant stories of Ashfield, both fiction and nonfiction, for 11 years now,” said festival co-chair and award-winning documentary filmmaker Christopher Seward. And yet, he added, “Every small town has a well of amazing and heartwarming — and even sidesplitting — tales told between neighbors. So this film festival is now eager to hear the stories of its neighbors, too. Specifically our new partners in Shelburne and Buckland.”
Residents of Ashfield, Buckland or Shelburne are being invited to submit their documentary, historical, or fictional films of five minutes or less. If you’re not from one of those three towns, all that’s required to enter is that the film be about Ashfield or mention Ashfield in some creative way, as in the past. Entries accepted will be screened at the annual festival gala, where cash prizes will be awarded.
Entries from any of those three towns can be a film about anything at all. For anyone else, the film simply has to reference Ashfield in some way — and be limited to five minutes or under.
“Over the last 11 years of the Ashfield Film Festival, we have had entries from adult pros who live in or come from Ashfield, as well as other adults who just love to tell stories and make entries almost every year,” said co-founder Harry Keramidas, an Ashfield film and TV editor best known for his work on “Back to the Future” and its two sequels. “We have had youngsters who have made their first films as entries who have then gone onto careers in the film and video world, and others who from time to time feel the desire to make a film, and so gather their friends and family to participate, and then come together to view their work at the festival. We now hope to bring these kinds of opportunities to Shelburne and Buckland.”
The submission deadline for entries is Aug. 3, with the festival scheduled for Sept. 13-15 at Ashfield Town Hall. Special feature films are screened the first two nights, followed by the film shorts gala on Sept. 15.
On the Web: www.ashfieldfilmfest.org