The Peru Gazette

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. Films made as part of a cell-phone film contest are among those featured at the fourth annual Lake Champlain International Film Festival, taking place Nov. 1 to 5 at the Strand Center for the Arts, 25 Brinkerhoff St., in downtown Plattsburgh.

In addition to films submitted from around the world that include topics such as refugees, gender equality and homelessness, SUNY Plattsburgh students, faculty and the community were encouraged to sign up for a 72-hour cell phone film contest, where competitors on teams of three to five members had three days to create film shorts using only their cell phones. The results will be screened at the Strand Thursday, Nov. 2, at 7 p.m. Winning films will be announced and screened during the festival’s Gala Night, Friday, Nov. 3.

Additionally, the 1924 silent film, “Hot Water,” will be kick off opening night with live organ accompaniment at 7 p.m. Afterward, two experimental films, “Panic Attack!” and “Melodrama,” will be shown from 8:10 to 10:10 p.m, followed by a Q&A with director Jason Andrew Torrance.

The film, “Good Funk,” by Adam Kritzer, will also be shown the night of the gala, followed by a Q&A with Kritzer and cast members.

The “Big Day” will showcase a series of family-friendly, short and refugee films, with a special presentation by Vietnamese-American novelist Le ly Hayslip.

Hayslip is an activist and founder of the Global Village Foundation, which promotes literacy and the arts throughout rural Southeast Asia. Her memoirs, “When Heaven and Earth Changed Places” and “Child of War, Woman of Peace,” are the subject of Academy Award-winning director Oliver Stone’s 1993 film “Heaven & Earth,” which will be screened after her presentation Saturday, Nov. 4, at 7:10 p.m.

To wrap things up, documentaries and a closing film by director John O’Brien, titled “Man with a Plan,” will be shown. A closing ceremony with an awards presentation will conclude the five-day festival Sunday, Nov. 5, at 6 p.m.

An all-access pass costs $10 and can be purchased at the box office. Students get free admission with their school ID.

For more information, contact Julia Devine, coordinator of the Center for Community Engagement, at 518-564-3022 or jdevi002@plattsburgh.edu. For the complete program schedule, visit: www.lcifilmfest.com/schedule.