#EOFF2021 rounding out the year.
#EOFF2021 rounds out the year and looks to next!
Now that we have woken from the post festival coma, we want to share some awesome sauce!
With Covid’s impact on audience participation and the nature of our hybrid event, EOFF had to forego audience balloting as in previous years. The outstanding artists and works below have been awarded Curator Choice awards that were derived from as much audience feedback as possible and Festival Director Christopher Jennings’ picks for exemplary work in filmmaking.
#EOFF2021 Award Winners
Curator’s Choice Best Feature: EVERYTHING IN THE END
Curator’s Choice Best Short: IN SYNC
Curator’s Choice Best Doc: SAPELO
Curator’s Choice – Filmmaker to Watch Award: Jen Elkington, JEAN
2021 has been a wild ride. Eastern Oregon Film Festival navigated some challenging times by building a new residency program, lining up great statewide partnerships, saw progress on The Liberty Theatre and pulled off a pretty radical in-person & fully virtual three day event in October. As 2021 nears its end EOFF has its work cut out for it.
“This wonderful festival has been churning out incredible opportunities for both the community and visiting artists year after year for more than a decade. Through volunteer efforts, grants, and local sponsorships plus a great grip of members, this organization has grown from a small local party to a nationally recognized destination event in Eastern Oregon. It is time that La Grande and Union County get behind the festival and its programs to push this event forward into a new era of cinema programming at The Liberty, Industry visitation and production (aka Economic Development), and dynamic tourism as EOFF adds more capacity to serve at the three day event next October.)”
Festival Director Christopher Jennings
The Filmmaker Residency will take place again this year and calls for applications will open December 15. Official dates and details will be posted to the FilmFreeway Submission page found at https://filmfreeway.com/eofilmfest-residency/ along with some great interviews with last year’s cohort.
The Liberty Theater has been making steady progress in its construction and revitalization efforts as The Foundation has navigated rising material costs and granting gaps, EOFF is looking forward to its opening and has secured projection systems for use when the time comes. EOFF will be integrating box office services using Eventive, the same platform that hosts the festival’s virtual content. This will make for a great method of metric gathering as we deliver increased in-person screenings via The Liberty Theatre as well as extend our reach with virtual programming. Look for more information on this as the project further materializes.
EOFF asks that you consider giving a year end contribution as a way to catalyze organizational efforts and come out the 2022 door swinging. Donations can be made via the festival website, eventive festival hub and via the festival’s facebook page. Your donation will go a long way.
EOFF is looking for new board members and volunteers to bring more vibrancy and diversity to the table. If you are interested in serving on the board of directors or volunteering at events, grant writing, submission screening and more connect with the festival by emailing director@eofilmfest.com.
We want to thank our ongoing sponsors and partners for their dedication to supporting Eastern Oregon Film Festival’s mission. Oregon Film, Eastern Oregon University, Roundhouse Foundation, Union County Cultural Coalition, Side A Brewing, HQ, lagrande.life, and many more great businesses and organizations. EOFF looks forward to our continued collaboration in bringing outstanding cultural opportunities to our community.