About

Mission

The Illinifest Student Film Festival celebrates the creativity and diversity of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign film production communities.  Our mission is to offer a creative platform for diverse voices in filmmaking across the UIUC campus and present their vision to the University community at large. The Festival features productions from University of Illinois RSOs, College of Media production classes and independent student projects. We welcome a variety of submissions: short narratives and documentary, experimental films, video essays, dance and music videos, travelogues and animation. Illinifest is committed to creating and sustaining a platform through which these student productions can be shared with the University and the Champaign-Urbana community.

Illini Film Fest 2020: Due to COVID-19 and Shelter-in-Place policies, the Illinifest Student Film Festival is moving online! Introducing Illini Film Fest Online Streaming Event! On May 2nd, 2020, at 5pm, the College of Media, Department of Media and Cinema Studies as well as MACS 464: Film Festivals will host a live stream event featuring short films, coming attractions, student made home movies and Tik Tok videos. We are staying engaged, connected and creative while we quarantine. Comedy, drama, singing, dancing, pets, kitchens turned into clubs, even some golf. We will be streaming all sorts of fun, challenging, emotional, and inspiring content. We are still working on the event although the date is fast approaching. Check back for more information about which platforms we will be using to stream the festival (Facebook, YouTube, or the UIUC College of Media website…or all three). You will be amazed by what the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign students have created!

 

History

Every spring, the Media and Cinema Studies (MACS) department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has a special class. Labeled as MACS 464, the course is focused on educating students about the various film festivals around the world, while also organizing film festival right here on campus run by non other than the students in MACS 464. This festival has existed for multiple iterations of the class over the years and has even gone through a few different names it has gone by. The festival began in 2010 and ran until 2012 under the festival title Movies to the MACS! The course was taught by Richard Leskosky and Ivy Glennon. In 2013, With Richard Potter as the MACS 464’s instructor and mentor, they hosted a new version of the festival, this time calling it the Illini Independent Film Festival. In 2014, headed by Alex Mobley, the festival expanded and was called Etcfilmfest. Programming from Etcfilmfest included live performances from The 92s, an alternative indie pop band from Palos Park, Illinois. Up until 2015, students submitted their films via DVD. But, when the festival began accepting submissions digitally, the festival found its lasting identity, this time the festival going by Illinifest and coordinated by the class instructor, Dora Valkanova. Using Dora’s vision, combined with the growing film production communities on campus, the 2019 presented a showcase exclusively for the UIUC filmmaking community. Through MACS 464, students can both learn about film festivals and contribute to the medium’s presence in Illinois by creating their own film festival that helps to showcase student talent and the diversity of short films from around the world.