The audience members at Saturday’s screening of “Pray the Devil Back to Hell” couldn’t wait until the end to start their applause. They started clapping midway through the film during a moment of triumph for the lead characters.
The documentary was shown at the Block Cinema, 40 Arts Circle Drive, as part of this weekend’s Talking Pictures Festival, Evanston’s first independent film festival. Percolator Films, a nonprofit media organization that founded the Reeltime Independent Film and Video Forum, produced the event.
The Evanston Public Library, Boocoo Cultural Center and Café and After Hours Movie Rentals participated along with the Block Cinema as the festival’s venues. Over three days they showed 14 feature-length films and four collections of short films.
Talking Pictures had been in the works since last summer, said Ines Sommer, co-director of the festival and a founder of Percolator Films.
Since its inception, the festival’s goal was to bring high-quality independent films to Evanston, Sommer said.
“We feel very strongly about independent films that have vision and probably not a lot of financial backing, but are true to the author’s point of view,” she said.
Fellow director Kathy Berger said the featured films cannot be seen on the shelves at Blockbuster or at the cineplex. The two directors selected the films by reviewing submissions from independent filmmakers from the United States, Canada, Asia and Europe. Other films, such as the Academy Award-nominated short films, were rented from distributors.
“There is a need for independent filmmakers to have a platform, and the festival offers that,” she said.
Will Schmenner, film curator and director at the Block Museum of Art, said Sommer and Berger have been involved at Block for several years. When the directors approached Schmenner last fall, he said he would love to be a part of the festival. With the help of a team of Northwestern film students, Schmenner narrowed the selection of entries and programmed the Academy Award-nominated short films.
“It’s great to have films that we knew would attract audiences and that we’d still be proud to show,” he said. “The Academy Award-nominated live action shorts … did incredibly well.”
Berger said community involvement was also one of the festival’s key missions, so the directors invited local businesses to co-present some of the films.
The Center for Independent Futures, a nonprofit that helps individuals with disabilities, co-presented the screening of “Body and Soul: Diana and Kathy,” a documentary chronicling the lives of two disabled women. Likewise, the Evanston Food Policy Council co-presented “The Garden,” a documentary about urban farmers in Los Angeles.
“We use the films as kind of a catalyst for people to talk more deeply about the issues that have been raised,” Sommer said.
All submitted features were eligible in the festival’s competition, and awards were announced Sunday. Judge Maria Finitzo, a documentary filmmaker in Evanston, chose “Body and Soul: Diana and Kathy.” Scott Curtis, an NU RTVF professor, selected “Sita Sings the Blues” as the best animated film.
While the featured filmmakers make a profit from the festival through ticket charges, the event was nonprofit and depended on volunteers. Next year, the two directors hope to write grants and take on a hired staff.
Sommer said much of the festival’s significance lies in the shared experience of watching a film.
“It really overcomes that sense of isolation,” she said. “It’s something that really makes people turn to their neighbor and say, ‘Isn’t that cool.'”
