by Ellen Rossow

rossowel@mnstate.edu

MSUM’s Film Loop is hosting its second annual Red River Film Festival April 30. The fest offers high school students in North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota the opportunity to have their work screened in a festival setting.

Film junior Rachel Soland founded the festival in 2015 as a way to “encourage high school students to pursue film and hopefully to choose MSUM as the place to commit to that major.”

Soland wishes she had something like it when she was in high school.

“I came from a high school, as did most of The Film Loop board members, that didn’t offer anything for students interested in film, and I always wanted an opportunity like this film festival as an outlet to start making films,” she said.

As Soland said, the festival also serves as a way for high school students to become familiar with MSUM’s film department.

“We’re hoping to … get not only the Film Loop’s name out there, but also MSUM’s name out there to high school students, specifically shining light on the film department,” Soland said.

The Film Loop board reached out to schools from all corners of the tri-state area in search of submissions.

“The board this year emailed representatives from (nearly) every single high school in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota to invite them to submit films of any length or genre,” Soland said. “We have almost twice as many submissions as last year.”

The festival isn’t juried, so all submitted pieces will be screened, with all participants receiving a participation gift. All featured filmmakers are highly encouraged to attend.

Soland hopes the Red River Film Festival will continue to develop as a celebration of amateur film.

The Red River Film Festival takes place at 7:30 p.m. April 30 in the King Hall Auditorium.