The Westwood Theatre, located at 2 E. Main St. in Rexburg, is hosting a film festival. Directors and viewers alike are invited to submit films and join in the fun.

 The film festival will be held on March 5^th, 7:00–8:30 p.m. and March 6^th, 7:00–8:30 p.m. The first night of the festival will feature a selection of short films that were created by festival participants. The second night will show feature-length films and will host an awards ceremony for the short films.

The film festival accepts films that have been submitted to previous festivals, and there is no limit on the number of films a filmmaker can submit. The late submission deadline is Feb 20^th and costs $15.

For those interested in submitting films can send them to (City of Rexburg c/o Westwood Film Festival 35 North 1^st East Rexburg, ID 83440l) More information on forms and applications can be found online at www.thewestwoodfilmfestival.com/submit-your-film.html.

For those interested in attending the festival, can pay $3 for one ticket and $5 for a two-night pass. Tickets can be purchased at Rexburg’s City Hall by calling 208-372-2333. For those who wish to pay over the phone, can call-in starting February 1 and can use Visa, Mastercard, or Discover. Tickets can also be purchased at the event. All of the proceeds from this event will go to the restoration of the Westwood.

Saving the tickets to this event would be a very good idea, because the back of the tickets will look much like a Starving Student Card. The back of each ticket will have discounts at local businesses like Twizlberry, the Craze and more.

 Cash prizes will be awarded for best picture, best director, best performance and best editor.  The judges will screen the short films before the event and choose winners for the different categories.

The Festival judges have a variety of backgrounds in film production: they include: Richard A. Smith, who worked on many advertising campaigns such as the Oscar-Winning best pictures Rocky and Annie Hall; Thomas Hallaq, who was part of the news team for KSTU Fox 13 in Salt Lake City, UT; Robert L. Sinise, who has been involved in editing many movies, including Heavyweights and Of Mice and Men; and Hyrum Conrad, who is a professor for the Department of Theatre at Brigham Young University-Idaho.

The film festival started out as an idea that three students made into an internship. Kyle Field, a senior studying business marketing, Zac Farnsworth, a senior studying business marketing and Dave Schleiffarth, a senior studying sociology, came up with the idea and went to the City of Rexburg to ask if they would hire them as interns to organize the festival.

Field stated that, “Our main reasons for wanting to organize a film festival were we wanted to create a credible event for filmmakers to display their work, we wanted to stimulate the arts in East Idaho and we wanted to restore the historic Westwood Theatre.”

The Film Festival is sure to be a night of entertainment. Directors, aspiring directors and movie fanatics alike: come and join in the fun.

For more information or questions contact: Kyle Field at kfieldesq@gmail.com