Michael Huffstutler, a broadcast and digital media senior, will dispay his short film, Wristbands, at the Kino Short Film Festival.
After getting his first degree in psychology, Huffstutler realized his passion was in cinema, so he returned to the University of Idaho to learn more about it.
“I always wanted to make movies, but I never thought I’d have the chance,” Huffstutler said. “But now that I’m old enough to know better, I decided that I would come back and get a degree in that.”
The Kino Short Film Festival is an annual event hosted by UI to showcase short films made by broadcast and digital media students.
Students in the advanced video production class plan, script, cast, direct and edit a short film production over the course of a semester, then display their work to the community, Huffstutler said.
Short films can be any genre and topic, so long as they are between five and 10 minutes long.
Huffstutler chose to make a short horror film called “Wristbands” based on an urban legend involving a doctor and a deceased patient, he said.
“I like horror films, I think they are my favorite type of film,” Huffstutler said.
He said having an opportunity to have some jump scares in his film is one of the reasons Huffstutler chose the horror genre.
Huffstutler said that he attended the festival for the first time in 2004 and it reminded him how much he loved cinema. It inspired him to get a second degree and participate in the festival himself this year.
Only having access to student actors and school equipment and working on little too no budget can make the process more challenging, Huffstutler said.
“The casting was probably the most difficult part,” Huffstutler said. “You have ideas for your characters of who they are and what they look like, and then you have a casting call, and none of them look or act like you thought your character would be.”
Despite the many challenges, Huffstutler said he has had fun putting the project together as well as working with his cast.
“The entire experience has just been a good time hanging out with good people and making something fun,” he said.
Huffstutler said taking the class and participating in the film festival has benefitted him from an educational stand point and from the fun of doing what he loves.
While the festival has been beneficial to students, Huffstutler said it also benefits the community.
Part of the class is for students to ask local businesses for sponsorship, which brings awareness to them and the sponsorship money goes to the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre, where the event is held.
“It’s the only place in the Moscow-Pullman area, right now, where we can have this type of art, we can have student films being displayed and live theater, there’s not a lot of that in the area,” Huffstutler said.
The festival is very supportive of the Kenworthy and what it does to keep this kind of art present in the community, Huffstutler said.
The Kino Short Film Festival will be held at 1 p.m. April 30 and 7 p.m. May 1 at the Kenworthy.
The festival will feature short films from several students and local filmmakers. Admission is free and all donations will go to the Kenworthy.
Kara Billington can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @K_Billington3