Two films that earned Academy Award nominations for screenwriter and director Al Reinert will be featured as part of Saturday's lineup Feb. 25 at the Nacogdoches Film Festival.
The documentary film, For All Mankind, by two-time Academy Award nominee and Texas A&M graduate Al Reinert will be shown Saturday evening on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University. Director Ron Howard, later hired Reinert to write the screenplay for his then-upcoming film project Apollo 13, which earned an Oscar nomination.
In preparation for making the documentary, Reinert watched more than six million feet of footage shot during the Apollo mission and picked out the best. Rather than being a newsy, fact-filled documentary, Reinert focuses on the human aspects of the space flights. The only voices heard in the film are the voices of the astronauts and mission control, and Reinert uses the astronauts' own words from interviews and from the mission footage. Levie Isaacks, A.S.C., the cinematographer for the widely-acclaimed documentary film, will also be in attendance. Following the screening of the film, there will be a Q&A session with Reinert and Isaacks.
Saturday night will continue with the manned spaceflight theme with the showing of the Academy Award winning film, Apollo 13. Based on the events of the Apollo 13 lunar mission, astronauts Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks), Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) and Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) find everything going according to plan after leaving Earth's orbit. However, when an oxygen tank explodes, the scheduled moon landing is called off. Subsequent tensions within the crew and numerous technical problems threaten both the astronauts survival and their safe return to Earth. Reinert and dolly grip Jeff "Moose" Howery will have a Q&A session after the Apollo 13 showing on the SFA campus.
Saturday is packed with a wide variety of stimulating activities for film aficionados. At 10 a.m. the best entries from the short film competition will be shown at the Cole Art Center in downtown Nacogdoches. On the SFA campus, a series of panel discussions on various aspects of filmmaking will be presented throughout the day featuring film industry professionals sharing their insights and expertise. Typically, topics such as cinematography, acting, editing techniques, documentary filmmaking, legal issues, how to get your story to the screen and how to make a short film on a budget will be included. Each session will have a moderator and will be open for questions from the audience.
The best short film entries will be shown at the Upstage Theater in the SFA College of Fine Arts building while the top ten entries in the high school short film category will be shown at the theater in the Film Program building. The activities for the high school film attendees will also include a guided tour of the SFA Film Programs.
Saturday afternoon will culminate with a formal awards ceremony for the winners of the Short Film, Feature Film and the High School competitions. Winners of the three film competitions will be notified by Feb. 12.
The 6th annual Nacogdoches Film Festival will be held Feb. 24-26, 2017. For more information, final lineup and tickets, visit www.NacogdochesFilmFestival.or
Contact the Nacogdoches Convention and Visitors Bureau for travel accommodations at 888-564-7351.
The Nacogdoches Film Festival (Nacogdoches Art Alliance) is an IRS-approved 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose goal is to raise scholarship money for film students attending Stephen F. Austin State University, as well as to provide financial support for the SFA Film program’s annual Summer Feature Film project, where SFA students experience firsthand the making of a full length feature film.
CONTACTS:
Joanna Temple, Nacogdoches CVB, 888-564-7351
Sherri Skeeters, Nacogdoches CVB, 888-564-7351
Ron Johnson, Chair, NAA, 936-645-1499
Bill King, Vice Chair, NAA, 936-615-2210
press@nacogdochesfilmfestival.
