Photo courtesy of Sarah Kocher
It’s not quite the Oscars party you may have imagined.
There’s no chip dip, no red carpet review, no Leonardo DiCaprio to root for (or against, depending on your feelings about bears and revenge).
Instead, there are two comic strip-esque cosmonauts in the bitter cold of Russia, training for the trip of a lifetime. There’s a military translator preparing for her first day on the job and in the field. There’s a stick-figure woman, falling in love with rocks and desperately trying to pass on an important message from the future to her six-year-old self. There’s a boy dreaming of superheroes while his dad tries to complete religious rituals that compete with the noise from the television.
And there’s an audience of approximately 175 people, all of whom have turned up to see the Oscar-nominated short films and then to vote on their favorites. This is the event’s fifth year, brought to Sioux Falls, South Dakota under the guidance of Julie Anderson Friesen, director of Cinema Falls.
“I knew that the program existed in other cities, and I just sort of did my best Nancy Drew and investigated,” Julie says. “I felt that there would be a lot of really good other Oscar-lovers who would love to see those films just because they are so inaccessible.”
The screening of all the Oscar-nominated short films, both animated and live-action, is representative of Cinema Falls’ larger mission: to provide Sioux Falls community members with the chance to see the films that they might not get the chance to see otherwise.
“The significant number of people who are attending Cinema Falls also are trying to see films that they are reading about in the New York Times or are reading about in national publications,” Julie says. “Those films are being exhibited, for example, in Omaha and Minneapolis, but they’re just not coming here.”
“There’s always been this group of people who I think love film,” she continues. “Cinema Falls has helped to reach out and collect all those people who love film and want to see independent film, documentaries and world cinema. They really want to see films that make you think. They want to not necessarily only see award-winners; they want to see quality filmmakers beyond that which is typically programmed for the larger cineplexes.”
Photo courtesy of Sarah Kocher
Furthermore, what the Cinema Falls audience appreciates about the films they are shown is mirrored in Julie’s own passions.
“Story was very important to me, always,” Julie says, citing her college studies and background in film production and marketing. For her it was, “as many things are in life, just a cumulative experience, so I always had an interest in film.”
And as Cinema Falls grows, the opportunities to bring these stories to the Sioux Falls audience grows as well. According to Julie, this is what the future of Cinema Falls is about.
“My greatest goal is to always be improving the quality of the films that I’m bringing to Cinema Falls,” Julie says.
As Cinema Falls works to do so, they are considering adding different programs and expanding the nights programs are offered. These events, Julie says, may be more collaborative in nature, and may branch out into archived films or interactive events for what may be a different demographic.
“We’re just going to kind of take some risks and try some new things,” Julie says.
But at the end of the day, the demographic of Cinema Falls will be continually defined by one thing: “They want cinematic nourishment, and they maybe also want something a little bit different,” Julie says.
And furthermore, they want it together.
“People who are interested in experiencing films in a community, people who want to support seeing films the way that filmmakers want their film to be seen… that’s who we’re really reaching out to,” she says.
Chip dip not included.
