New Talkeetna festival seeks adventurous filmmakers

WASILLA — Organizers of the Valley’s newest film festival are hoping to inspire the budding Warren Millers of the Mat-Su to get shooting.

Planned for September, the Talkeetna Adventure Film Festival is a project of the Denali Arts Council, a Talkeetna cooperative that supports arts in the Susitna Valley community. According to DAC operations manager Holli Papasodora, the idea behind the festival is to spur filmmakers — both experienced and newbies — to create short films that capture the spirit of the theme.

“We’re just hoping to get in all different types of films from all different grades of filmmakers,” she said.

Hangar Door Cinema, a wing of the council that puts on movies and presents film festivals throughout the year, is in charge of organizing the festival.

“It’s just something to do on a Saturday night in Talkeetna,” said Maureen Gualtieri, one of Hangar Door’s three volunteer co-directors.

A few years ago the group hosted a short film festival that got good response from the community.

“It was great, there were a lot of contributions from student filmmakers and adults as well,” she said.

This time around, organizers decided the festival needed a bit more focus. When they realized the fall would also coincide with 2016 Adventure World Travel Summit in Anchorage, they decided an adventure film festival would be a perfect fit.

“That’s where the connection came from,” Gualtieri said.

The festival is still in its initial planning phase. Papasodora said this week that she’s finalizing the poster and the group has created a Facebook page to promote the festival. The arts council is hoping to spread the word about the festival now so that prospective filmmakers still have time to come up with and shoot their ideas.

“That’s what we’re hoping for is that people can make them between now and then,” Papasodora said.

Although films must have an “adventure” theme, organizers are keeping their definition of what that means purposefully loose.

“It’s anything the filmmaker finds adventurous,” Gualtieri said.

According to the group’s definition of adventure on its Facebook page, the theme can mean “an exciting or dangerous experience or an undertaking involving unknown risk.”

“Our definition is wide open,” Gualtieri said.

There is no entry fee for films, but entries are limited to two per person. In addition to following the theme, films must be filmed at least 50 percent in Alaska and be eight minutes or less in length (unless otherwise approved). Submissions must be considered PG-13 or less and must be submitted in either MP4 or .MOV files or via a URL link. Deadline is Aug. 31, and the organizers are encouraging people to submit films as soon as possible.

The entries will be pared down to about two hours of footage, which will be screened Sept. 24 in Talkeetna.

Gualtieri said that with the technological advances made in digital technology in recent years, there should be lots of people interested in bringing their adventures to the big screen. She’s hoping interest comes from both the local community and across Alaska.

“We just thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun with technology as easy as it has become to solicit films from the community and the state at large?’” she said.

For more information about the festival, visit the group’s Facebook page or check out Denali Arts Council online at denaliartscouncil.org or call 733-7929.

Contact editor Matt Tunseth at 352-2268 or news@frontiersman.com