The Ashfield Film Fest Committee invites hilltown residents to break out their cameras, create locally inspired films and submit them to the 2024 Ashfield Film Fest short films competition.

“Make those movies,” Harry Keramidas, the fest’s co-founder, said. “We’re interested in getting a huge entry field so we can have lots of things to judge and to make a very large, very great entertainment venue for the town, who has supported us for years.”

The Ashfield Film Festival started in 2007 by Keramidas and Tamsen Merrill, both Ashfield residents, in collaboration with the Mass Cultural Council. The festival is an homage to Cecil B. DeMille, who was born in Ashfield and is known as a founding father of American cinema.

The festival originally only accepted films submitted by Ashfield residents but has expanded over the years to welcome submissions from people throughout the hilltowns of Franklin County. Ashfield has a population of fewer than 2,000 people, many of whom have participated in the event.

“It was pretty Ashfield-centric,” Keramidas explained about the first year of the film fest. “It was a very big hit and a big splash in the community to get more people interested. It got a lot of young people interested in it and it grew from there.”

The 16th annual event will take place over two nights, Friday, Sept. 20, and Saturday, Sept. 21. The committee requests that residents submit films prior to the submission deadline on Aug. 25.

On the Friday night of each annual fest, a movie is screened followed by a panel discussion with one of the main filmmakers. This year will host a screening of the 2021 Academy Award winning film, “Sound of Metal,” followed by a panel discussion hosting the movie’s director and Franklin County resident, Darius Marder.

On Saturday night, the submitted short films will be screened. 

There are relatively few guidelines for submissions. All films must be under five minutes long, they must have a clear connection to western Massachusetts (this connection could be that a principal member of the cast or crew is from the area, the film was written or shot here, or some similar, direct connection to the area), they should conform to a PG rating and music must be original or in the public domain.

“I just love that it is a way to express themselves, have fun and just create,” said Christopher Seward, one of the fest’s committee members. “I think the act of creativity is super important. A lot of people may not think of themselves as creative and yet they are … It’s just wonderful, it’s the reason why I live in a small town.”

“We have fun with it,” said fest committee member, Tamara Sloan. “The audience is generally very supportive, forgiving and joyful as they get together because some of the films are made by children and are amateur and some of them are made by professionals and exceptional, but everybody gets applause.”

Additionally, the committee encourages submissions to the Super Shorts compilation following this year’s theme: “What makes you happy?” These mini-films should be no longer than 30-seconds, must have a connection to the hilltowns, and will be compiled together by the committee to present on Saturday of the fest.

The films will all be screened and separated into categories for cash prizes. A cash prize of $200 will be given to the winners of the technical achievement, best documentary, youth prize, best narrative, best actor narrative, music video and animation winners. The grand prize winner will receive $400 along with their name imprinted on the box of the grand trophy, named Baby Cecil, after Cecil B. DeMille. The audience will also pick a favorite and win prizes donated by local merchants.

Keramidas explained the importance of providing young filmmakers in rural areas a platform to present their work, who may go on to pursue a career in filmmaking. Although the fest is for all ages, he emphasized the fest provides a space for young filmmakers with limited platforms to represent their work. 

“People who have made films over the years, young people, have gone on to work, at least half a dozen of them, in film and television over the years which I think is a great tribute to the film festival giving people an opportunity,” he said.

All the films that have screened previously at the fest, which number about 175 to date, are archived at the Belding Memorial Library. The library offers camera equipment that can be rented by residents interested in creating a film for the fest.

“It’s one of those wonderful events that our hilltowns tend to create that are very special and small,” Sloan said. “Then the outside world discovers them and wants to be part of this incredible sense of community.”

More information about the festival and submissions can be found on their website, ashfieldfilmfest.org.