Moviegoers wait during a previous Open Screen Night. Jim Smith organized Open Screen Nights for the Chattanooga area before he moved to Atlanta several years ago. Now he’s back, and is looking to get the event up and running again.Local filmmakers, actors and writers will get more opportunities to showcase their work to the public as Open Screen Night returns Saturday, Feb. 27.
Organized by Jim Smith, the event, being held at the Actors Academy in Hixson, will be the first of several throughout the year for which filmmakers can submit their work. Smith said he currently has about an hour and a half worth of submitted shorts, ranging from a few minutes to 23 minutes in length.
“We really want this to be like an open mic night,” he said. “If you’ve got the nerve to give it to us, we’ll screen it.”
Smith said while many of the shorts already in hand have been shown before, there are a few that have never been screened to the public. Those that have been shown, he said, were only showcased in very limited spaces, so attendees are likely to see work brand-new to them at the event.
This is a rebirth for Open Screen Night. Smith started the event before he moved to Atlanta several years ago. Now that he’s returned, he said he’s looking to grow the filmmaking community in Chattanooga.
“Our main goal is just to give movie makers an outlet with an actual audience where they can see what it looks like on a big screen and get a real audience reaction,” he said. “For people just starting out, it’s a good way to gauge how they’re doing.”
Atlanta, said Smith, was great for professionals in the industry, but burgeoning budgets and pay expectations often made life difficult for indie filmmakers.
Between the academic film programs at UTC and Chattanooga State, as well as continued growth in the indie film community here in the area, he and his contributors are looking toward numerous successful events throughout the year, he added.
“People are pushing to make the filming community enjoyable and fresh, and I’m very excited to be here and working with that,” said Smith.
He and Chattamovies, a local collective of filmmaking enthusiasts, are planning on holding an Open Screen Night every few months, with audiences voting on their favorite at the conclusion of each event. Then, at the end of the year, the group hopes to rent out a major theater in Chattanooga to showcase the best of that year.
“We’re also looking to screen in other places, like North Georgia and LaFayette,” Smith added. “I think there’s a lot of potential for filmmakers in the area, and we’re going to work to show that potential.”
For more information, visit earluminator.com/openscreennight. The Actors Academy is at 5706 Highway 153.
Email Shane Foley at sfoley@timesfreepress.com.