GSU International Festival to Showcase Student Films Sept. 15 &16

Contact: Josh Young

Governors State University

Email:jyoung4@govst.edu

708.235.2826

For Immediate Release

GSU International Festival to Showcase

Student Films

September 15 and 16

University Park, IL—Registration is now open to reserve your seats for the short film competition in the inaugural Chicago Southland International Film Festival (CSIFF). The student competition is a two-day event on September 15 and 16 at Governors State University’s (GSU) Center for Performing Arts (CPA).

Students telling the extraordinary stories of our everyday lives will be on full display during CSIFF, the first Southland festival of its kind. Storylines include a family’s voyage to the Women's March on Washington; the disappearance of TWA Flight 800; and the journey of two orphans to find a home through theatre.

“We’re all about authorship here, and encouraging the creative growth of individual writer-directors,” said Professor Daniel Nearing, Chicago’s inaugural Filmmaker in Residence 2017, and the writer and director of “Hogtown” and “Chicago Heights.” He also produced “Hogtown.”

Earlier this month, CSIFF hosted a screening of two documentaries during the CSIFF feature film showcase event. “Little Wound’s Warriors,” produced and directed by GSU Alum Seth McClellan, and “Minding the Gap,” produced by Bing Liu, were shown followed by a Q & A session. McClellan attended the event, and Liu submitted a pre-recorded interview.

In September, 19 films produced by high school through graduate school students from five countries including Russia, and China will be screened over a two-day period. The competition will culminate with an awards ceremony on the evening of Sunday, September 16.

“We’re so pleased with the global response to our inaugural event here in the Southland,” said Josh Young, CSIFF Co-chair. “This is an opportunity for students across the world to showcase their work and advance our mission—to support and participate in sustaining an intellectually stimulating public square.”

CSIFF attendance is free, but reservations are required at CenterTickets.net. Patrons who register by September 1 will automatically be entered for a chance to win tickets to an upcoming student theatre performance at CPA.

The festival is co-sponsored by the Governors State University Friends of the Library, Center for the Performing Arts, School of Extended Learning, Digital Learning & Media Design Department, The Knowledge Exchange and Intellectual Life Committee.