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The line for the Local Filmmakers Night, a benefit show for the HSU Film Festival, winds around the Minor Theatre building. Photo by Jason Fisher
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By MacArthur Lundeen
Few people are probably aware that Arcata has earned a strong place in the annals of film history, and it is all due to the work of Humboldt State University film students, past and present. The Humboldt International Short Film Festival will be turning 35 years old this month, making it the oldest and most popular student-run film festival in the world.
Since its beginning in 1967, the festival has earned a worldwide reputation for giving independent and student filmmakers a chance to show their work to an audience of film enthusiasts, attracting submissions from countries all over the world. It was held at the Minor Theatre in Arcata from March 30 to April 6.
“The real purpose of the festival is to exhibit short films that wouldn’t otherwise be seen,” said HSU film student Jordan Packer, who is co-directing the festival this year. “All the big Hollywood studios have a guaranteed audience. Most of the theaters out there only show those feature-length films. Here, we get to show some films that are less interested in making money and more interested in the artistic side of film.”
The festival has the distinction of being run entirely by student filmmakers. A class taught here at HSU is responsible for organizing and maintaining it. “It’s the oldest student-run film festival, and that’s sort of cool because we don’t have contacts with the industry,” Packer said.
The criteria for submissions are that the films must be less than 60 minutes long, and either on Super-8 or 16mm film. Digital and video productions are not allowed. The submissions are subjected to a screening process by the class, and the best of them are chosen to be part of the festival. Once there, they are reviewed by a panel of “jurors,” comprised of a group of guest filmmakers, and awards are given out at the festival’s conclusion for the best animation, documentary, experimental, and narrative films.
“We get submissions from all over the United States, Israel, Thailand, Australia, Canada and Brazil. Last year we got one from Poland,” Packer said.
The students feel the festival is unique because of its emphasis on “experimental” films and its long history, a history that ties in with the story of the Minor Theatre itself.
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HSU film instructor Meg Jamieson (left) and film student Christine Pebley (right) mingle before the Local Filmmakers Night show. Photo by Jason Fisher
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The Minor was opened in 1914 by Isaac Minor and Noah Falk, two wealthy men who had originally planned to build a hotel but didn’t have enough money left over from purchasing the land. Instead they ended up opening the Minor Theatre, which featured such acts as the magician Harry Houdini performing onstage in its early years. The Minor was closed in 1938 when the Arcata Theatre opened. It reopened once more in the 1950s, but closed again a decade later after television became popular. It was HSU student David Phillips who changed that, starting with the first Humboldt Film Festival in 1967.
“At that time there was something called the National Student Film Festival in Washington D.C.,” Phillips recalled. “The winners were sent to Humboldt. One of them was actually George Lucas’ first film ‘THX1138.’ The second year I got together with a friend and we decided to do it on our own. We called it the Second Humboldt Film Festival. It was in what was the Sequoia Theatre.”
Phillips left after the first year and went to film school in Southern California. His friend kept running the festival, and showcased films such as “The Resurrection of Bronco Billy,” which won an Oscar for Best Short Film.
Phillips eventually moved back to the area, and with the help of some film students at HSU, was able to buy the Minor and rescue it from being turned into a parking lot by the city of Arcata.
“The year I left, there were all these film students at HSU who toured the Minor and wondered why it was closed. So we pooled our resources and were able to get it open on a shoestring budget in 1972. The film festival kept happening in Sequoia. I always had my finger in it but wasn’t running it. Then one year we decided to just have it at the Minor, and it’s been there ever since,” Phillips said.
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Danny Plotnick, one of last year’s film festival award winners, projects a film at the Minor Theatre. Photo by Mary Cruse
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Phillips said the festival began accepting international contributions in the early ’80s. Today, Phillips owns the Minor and supports the Humboldt International Short Film Festival. Most of the funding for it comes from Local Filmmakers Night, another film event that features the short works of filmmakers from the Humboldt County area.
“Local Filmmakers Night has three purposes,” said HSU film instructor Ann Alter, who is the faculty adviser for the Humboldt International Short Film Festival. “To celebrate the works of local filmmakers for outreach, to build an audience appreciation for film, and to fund the International Short Film Festival. One hundred percent of the proceeds go to the festival.”
The Minor does charge $50 a night to rent the theater for the festival, which Phillips says actually results in it losing a bit of money, but he doesn’t care.
“It’s a cause that’s really close to my heart,” he said. “It’s important for me to show the students of Humboldt and around the world that we’re behind them and really support their work.”
When asked what his favorite part of being involved with the festival over the years has been, he laughed and said, “I’m not really sure. I guess the excitement of doing it for the first time. Those are really special memories for me. I never thought the festival would survive, but it did.”
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