Film

Oh, Great ... Another Film Fest

despite its tongue-in-cheek name, CTV’s independent film fest will screen dozens of films – old, new, big, small

Eric Christenson |

“The Mural” (2014)
“The Mural” (2014)

The name of a new film festival put on by Chippewa Valley Community Television implies that when they start screening films on Nov. 13 and 14 in Eau Claire, they’ll just kinda be your everyday run-of-the-mill film festival. But the upcoming Another Independent International Film Festival isn’t that at all. The majority of film festivals these days go through rigorous submission/review processes, then they usually select only the newest films or ones that they can premiere for the first time. AIIFF, a brand-new fundraiser for CTV, stands firmly behind the belief that there are great and immensely overlooked movies that exist in this world. They’ve set out to find some truly extraordinary short films and documentaries (with a focus on traditional filmmaking) to screen at Micon Cinema’s Downtown Cinema in Eau Claire. Short and impactful, films like Dinosaurs and Seahawks (an art film about a dinosaur mask) and The Mural (a 20-minute documentary about a group of artists with developmental disabilities coming together to paint a gorgeous mural) are powerful in content, and accessible in length. The festival will also feature a guest presentation and discussion called “What Is Your Story?” with legendary Wisconsin filmmaker Bill Rebane, the mastermind behind classic B-horror-movie, The Giant Spider Invasion, which was filmed in Merrill, Wis., in the ’70s. The Chippewa Valley doesn’t have many film festivals, and this one is a bold and unique foray into that orld. For more information, visit aiiff.cvctv.org.

CTV Presents: Another Independent International Film Festival • Downtown Cinemas, 315 S. Barstow St., Eau Claire • Nov. 13-14 • aiiff.cvctv.org