Columbus getting taste of Hollywood with film fest, speaker series
A taste of Hollywood will be coming to Columbus in mid-October, with a film festival and a speaker series presentation scheduled in the city’s downtown area.
The Way Down Film Festival, in its second year, will take place Oct. 13-14 at the historic Springer Opera House on 10th Street. The event focuses on filmmakers in the categories of narrative, animation, documentary and experimental. There will be film screenings and sessions for questions and answers, along with plenty of time for networking. The fest culminates on the second day with an awards ceremony at The Loft.
“Between each screening, communion thrives in the Springer Opera House Saloon and lobby, where film enthusiasts, vendors and our visiting filmmakers can talk shop, take a breath, and connect,” the Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau said in a release. “The festival has already recruited three movies to be filmed here, motivated countless short films to be made locally, and founded a film society that meets every month.”
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As of Tuesday, the Way Down Film Festival had sold out of VIP passes, according to its website and Facebook page, but was still offering two-day passes at $65 apiece for a limited time, with discounts available for students, military personnel and employees of Synovus, which is the event’s major sponsor. Passes are available for purchase at www.waydownfilmfest.com. There also is a la carte pricing for some individual screenings and portions of the event.
Those Columbus-area residents who may not have the time, money or inclination to dive into the Way Down Film Festival might consider a free evening presentation Oct. 17 by Lee Thomas, deputy commissioner of Film, Music and Digital Entertainment for Georgia. The 7 p.m. event will take place downton inside Legacy Hall at the RiverCenter for the Performing Arts, 900 Broadway.
Thomas is expected to discuss Georgia’s $9.5 billion film industry, which has ramped up dramatically in recent years to make the state one of the top sites for movie and TV program productions in the world. In 2016 alone, there were 320 productions in Georgia, which included AMC cable network’s popular series, “The Walking Dead,” the Netflix suspense thriller, “Stranger Things,” and various Marvel blockbuster movies.
The session by Thomas is part of Columbus State University’s speaker series, which was launched in 2014. It is free to CSU students, but also those in the community. For more information, call 706-507-8614.
This story was originally published October 3, 2017 at 6:03 PM with the headline "Columbus getting taste of Hollywood with film fest, speaker series."