HIFF in the News Today!
Have you heard the news?
We’re excited to see #HIFF picking up some early steam! If you pick up a copy of The Reporter Herald today (3/16/19) you’ll catch a nice article about the festival and what we’re trying to accomplish. And based off of the response to their post online, we can confirm that our theory is on the mark- Northern Colorado wants more films! We can’t wait to help the thriving art scene to grow even more.
Here’s the write-up in case you missed it…
REPORTER HERALD
The Rialto Theater in downtown Loveland will host the inaugural Horsetooth International Film Festival on Sept. 7. (Jenny Sparks / Loveland Reporter-Herald)
Horsetooth International Film Festival to debut in Loveland this fall
First Horsetooth International Film Festival will take place at Rialto Theater Center in September
By Paul Albani-Burgio, Reporter-Herald Staff Writer
POSTED: 03/15/2019 07:46:17 PM MDT
When area filmmakers John Hunt and Jesse Nyander look at Northern Colorado, they see a region rife with creative potential and filmmaking talent. Now they want the rest of the state — and world — to see that, too.
So they are launching a new film festival centered on Loveland with an eye toward showcasing what they say is the region's burgeoning filmmaking talent and giving the area the type of major film event that has become standard in other independent film hotbeds.
"There is a lot going on film-wise in Boulder and Denver but we have a lot going on up here too," Hunt said. "But we don't really have that platform that would put the Northern Colorado film scene on the map. So this event is about uniting the community in that effort."
The planned festival, which organizers have named the Horsetooth International Film Festival, will debut with a one-day main event at the Rialto Theater Center on Sept. 7. Hunt, who has brought together a team of local creative professionals to work with him and Nyander on the event, said the plan is for this year's event to consist of screenings of around a dozen 15-minute short films and one feature film.
However, Hunt said that is just the planned starting point for the festival with the team already planning on eventually turning it into "a truly regional and multi-day event" with screenings at such venues as Fort Collins' Lyric Theater and Museum of Discovery and the Mishawaka Amphitheater in Bellevue.
Hunt said the team is planning to begin taking film submissions via the Film Freeway platform, which he said is becoming the standard vehicle for films to be submitted to festivals for consideration, in April.
"We are going to have multiple categories for filmmakers to submit in and we are still working those out," Hunt said. "But the major general focus is going to be films from the Northern Colorado film community and growing and uniting that community."
The desire to make the festival a truly strategic event led to the team's decision to chose to hold the inaugural festival at the Rialto.
"We met with several venues but we really felt that the Rialto, in addition to being a really unique space, also offers the possibility for people to come in and out of the festival going on in the theater and walk around and be involved in the community and also for the community to be part of the festival because it's right there," he said. "You don't get that at the Mishawaka, for example, where there isn't really a community to walk around."
Also intentional was the decision to include the word "International" in the festival's name.
"We realize our filmmakers can only go so far inside their own bubble," he said. To grow as filmmakers they need exposure to ideas from outside their areas "and that's what we are hoping to provide here."
Though the festival is still a work in progress, Hunt said he is hoping the festival can become one on the level of the Boulder International Film Festival — though with a distinctively Northern Colorado flair.
"When you look at the Boulder International Film Festival it started on a small scale like we are and now brings 65,000 people to Boulder over a weekend," he said. I don't see any reason why that can't happen here."
Updates about the festival, including films and ticketing, will be posted as the event gets closer at horsetoothfilmfestival.com, where it is also possible to sign up for a newsletter about the festival. Those interested in volunteering or sponsoring the festival can contact organizers now at info@horsetoothfestival.com
Paul Albani-Burgio: 970-699-5407, palbani-burgio@reporter-herald.com