Chris Klein is coming home for the Omaha Film Festival next weekend, and he's bringing his latest director with him.
Klein, a native Omahan, is emblematic of why the festival continues to grow in popularity as its fifth year of events kicks off Saturday.
“I like the local flavor of the whole thing,” said Mark Kresl of Omaha, who has attended every festival. “Andrew Robinson's movie (‘Shimmer') drew me the first year. Now the Nebraska short films are my favorite part. It reminds you there are a lot of talented people making films who are homegrown.”
Robinson, an Omaha native, has made two more feature films since then.
Klein was a student at Millard West High School in 1996 when he bumped into Oscar-winning director-screenwriter Alexander Payne, who was casting his movie “Election.” Klein got a plum role in that movie, then went on to star in a pair of blockbuster “American Pie” comedies. He has appeared in a number of feature films since then.
Brian Miller, director-screenwriter of Klein's latest, “Caught in the Crossfire,” will join Klein in presenting one of the sessions at the Filmmaker Conference that will open the festival Saturday and March 7.
The interaction with those successful in film is just one of the benefits for independent filmmakers who participate in the festivals.
“With so many films getting made — and fewer and fewer getting picked up for distribution — festivals have become an important forum for independent film,” said Rachel Jacobson, director of Omaha's Film Streams, which specializes in screening arthouse movies.
“The festivals provide a filter, with their juries and panels, helping the best independent films rise to the surface and find a distributor. It's a great way to get more voices out there.”
Festival appearances by Hollywood filmmakers with local ties, such as Oscar-winning film editor Mike Hill of Omaha (“Apollo 13,” “Frost/Nixon”) and Klein, are especially good for building and promoting the local movie scene, Jacobson said.
Film festivals have proliferated since Omaha held its first in 2006. About 1,500 festivals were held that year. That number has doubled to more than 3,000 in 2010.
Many cities comparable in size to Omaha, including Des Moines and Oklahoma City, hold annual film festivals. Larger cities such as Denver and Miami host as many as five or six each year.
Screening of films competing for awards remains the heart of the nine-day Omaha event. The competition features small-budget and independent movies that have not yet secured distribution deals. It gives fledgling filmmakers a venue for their work to be seen and to interact with and learn from other filmmakers.
The festival's fifth year will run very much like last year, said Marc Longbrake, festival program director. Films will be screened at Great Escape 16, near 72nd Street and Sorensen Parkway.
Festival organizers choose 10 narrative features, six documentaries, 39 short films and three OFF the Edge horror features out of 450 entrants to compete for festival prizes. Those numbers are all almost exactly the same as last year. So is the approximately $12,000 in merchandise that will be awarded to the winners.
Longbrake said he hopes to draw at least 4,000 people to the weeklong event this year, a healthy increase over last year's 3,500. Festival attendance has grown every year.
“We've always had great films, but our ability to get the word out has been an issue,” Longbrake said. “This year a grant from Douglas County has helped us to use new marketing tools like Facebook and Twitter, plus beef up our advertising.”
Longbrake said six special screenings of movies expected to later open nationally look especially promising this year, featuring stars such as current Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan, Susan Sarandon, David Duchovny, Richard Jenkins, Jet Li, Martin Landau and Adrien Brody. Those films are not in competition.
Another festival favorite each year is a group of short films directed by Nebraskans or shot in Nebraska. The Nebraska shorts group will screen March 10 at 8 p.m.
One of the non-Nebraska shorts in competition at this year's festival, “Kavi,” is an Oscar nominee for best live-action short this year. It's about a boy in India pressed into slavery in a brick factory. An animated short that won a prize at last year's festival, “Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty,” is also an Oscar nominee this year.
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