Calling All Film Addicts

No need to idly imagine attending the mecca of all film festivals in Cannes, or the stateside Sundance, because this fall you can satisfy that indie film fetish right here in West Michigan, with the first annual Grand Rapids Film Festival.

The festival will take place August 26-28 at Celebration Cinema North, and will include more than 100 films from across the U.S. , as well as faraway locales such as Korea, Japan, Australia and the United Kingdom.

The idea for a film festival hosted in Grand Rapids has been in the works for a few years, according to Corey Niemchick, president of the festival.

"This year we finally decided to just do it. We said we needed to jump off this festival cliff and just commit to doing it or it will never happen. We’ll figure it out along the way, make some mistakes, learn from them, and get even better next year. So that’s what we did," Niemchick said.

The mission of the festival was to include challenging, inspiring, family-oriented and message-driven movies, but the organizers tried hard to stay away from the term "family-friendly", because of its conservative and political connotations.

"Family-oriented films are no longer just about, or for, kids anymore. Hollywood Box Office numbers have been trending steadily over the last 14 years to show that R-rated films are considerably down in profitability, down in attendance, and down in production output as compared to their PG-13 or better rated counterparts," he said.

Films will be shown in nine categories: feature, documentary, animation, PSA, student short film, student documentary, student music video, short narrative, and documentary short.

Glass trophies will be awarded to the top films in each category, as well as a $2,500 prize for Best of Show, and a $1,000 prize for Audience Choice Award.

Best of all, checking out a few of the films won't complete empty out your savings account; tickets can be bought individually to each film (or in a package for the whole weekend), and if you buy the ticket vouchers online by August 1st, they're only $5 per film.

A complete list of the films will be available on the festival's website two weeks before the festival begins.

For more information on the 1st Annual Grand Rapids Film Festival, check out their website.

The submission deadline for this year's festival has already past, but you can email info@grfilmfestival.com for info on contributing to next year's festival.