The annual Northern Lights Film Festival, which features original filmmaking and independent films, premiered last week in the Rosza Center for the Performing Arts. The 2010 festival featured two Oscar-winning independent films, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” and “The Hurt Locker”. Every year, the Northern Lights Film Festival brings Michigan Tech and the surrounding community an array of talented filmmakers, from Oscar-winners to student productions.
The film festival celebrated its sixth year with a chance booking of the Rosza just months before the festival. “[Seeing the films in the Rosza was] very exciting because it’s the Rosza, which has a status to it. I like the McCardle but I was pretty amped up to see [the films] in the Rosza” said Gabrielle Pastore, a Michigan Tech alumni, who attended the festival to see her documentary “A Thin Line” play in the student films section.
The first film of the festival was Kathryn Bigelows’ Oscar winner “The Hurt Locker”, which was awarded Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Sound Mixing, and Film Editing. The film is an intensely gripping narrative of modern warfare that follows the lives of the soldiers of an explosive disposal unit in Iraq trying to survive their last thirty-nine days of deployment under the command of their enigmatic new disposal expert, Staff Sergeant William James.
The film was well attended and the audience experienced the gripping narrative on the big screen. The film festival is actually the second time that “The Hurt Locker” screened on Michigan Techs campus, as it was a film board selection as well. Professor Erin Smith, presenter and organizer of the Northern Lights Film Fest said “I know that many of you have had the chance to see this film already but I’ve hope that you’ve come here tonight to experience it with this community of people.” She went on to describe the innovative sound work done for the film, given the label “occepella” sound mixing, as one of the reasons for including the gritty war film in the festival.
Audiences on Thursday night also had a chance to experience“Anvil: The Story of Anvil.” A reverent yet light-hearted documentary, directed by former-roadie-turned-director Sacha Gervasi, that follows the aging metal band Anvil dedicated to their ambitious dreams trying to hold down fame and fortune in their later years. The Thursday events were sponsored in part by the Sound Design and Audio Engineering Programs at Michigan Tech.
Friday, April 2, featured Nicole Oppers’ coming-of-age documentary “Off and Running”, which tells the story of an adopted African-American teenager looking for her roots and exploring her complex identity in a multi-racial family. Following Oppers film, Lee Daniels’ acclaimed and Oscar-winning film “Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire” will play at 8 p.m. “Precious” explores the deeply troubling life filled with abuse and neglect suffered by an overweight African-American girl living with her terrifying mother, played by Mo’Nique who received an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. The Friday events were sponsored in part by the Presidents’ Office for Institutional Diversity and the Humanities Department.
One new addition to the festival was the inclusion of short films and documentaries produced by Michigan Tech students. Three films produced and mostly shot on Michigan Tech campus by students played on the big screen as well. Saturday events were sponsored in part by the Cin/Optic Communication and Media Enterprise at Michigan Tech.
The festival ended Saturday night with, “Sin Nombre”, the story of two Latin-American immigrants escaping gang violence and looking for the promise of a better life in the United States, directed by critically acclaimed Cary Fukunaga and also heralded for its cinematography done by Adraino Goldman.