The Calvin Video Network (CVN) and Film Arts Committee are teaming up to sponsor a 25-hour film festival during academic advising, April 25–26.

“We did 44-hour festivals in the fall and spring of last year, and people talked about how long it took to make the films,” explained junior Jordan Horras, a communications major and a CVN co-chair, about the timeframe of the event. “And there’s another 24-hour film festival going on, so we wanted to differentiate,” he added.

The two student organizations, with help from Calvin’s communication arts and sciences (CAS) department, will give student filmmakers the hours between 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 25 through 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 26 to shoot and edit a short film. The festival commences in the basement of Commons Annex and concludes with an 8:30 p.m. screening and award ceremony in the Bytwerk Video Theatre.

“We usually have pizza on hand,” Horras said.

In keeping with the tradition of the two previous festivals, organizers are requiring that a specific (as yet undisclosed) prop be used in each of the entries. “Last spring, it was a rubber ducky,” Horras said. “And last fall it was a bottle of pills.” This edition of the festival will also require that a specific theme be used in each film.

The films will be judged by faculty of the CAS department and student filmmakers. The first-place film will receive $200. Second- and third- place efforts will each win $100, and $50 each will go to “best use of prop” and “best use of theme” in a film.

Horras has been impressed by the quality and variety of entries at previous festivals. “We don’t tell people they have to be a specific genre,” he said. “We’ve had everything from documentaries to spoof documentaries to music videos to experimental films. There’s always some comic ones and some serious ones. And overall, given the time period and the constraints, they’ve been pretty good.”

He said the festival serves a couple of purposes for Calvin filmmakers. “The biggest idea is to have fun. It’s also about building community—getting together and showing our work and making a little contest out of it.”