Tabloid TV shows and entertainment stations
alike love to do segments on film festivals from
around the world.
They shoot close-ups of big stars at Sundance and
shots of sunbathing women in Cannes. They seem to
gloss over any of the cornfields in Nebraska.
It’s understandable, but unfortunate because over
the past seven years the Great Plains Film Festival has
been gaining in stature and prominence among the
film festivals of the world. A bi-annual event, the
Great Plains Film Festival is not only a competition,
but a celebration of films connected in some way to
the great plains region of the United States.
On Tuesday, July 20, the festival will kick off at
4:45 p.m. in the Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater with
a documentary feature called “Canary of the Ocean”
and will show numerous films every day for the fol
Great Plains Festival
overcomes obstacles
to bring eclectic films
to Nebraska viewers
Story by Jason Hardy
*part one in a three-part series
lowing two weeks. I he festival will end on
Aug. 1 with a showing of all the winning
films from each of the festival’s five cate
gories: dramatic shorts, documentary
shorts, dramatic features, documentary
features and made for public television.
Far from the sunny beaches of the
French Riviera, Dan Ladely, director of
the Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater and
coordinator of the Great Plains Film
Festival, sits at a messy desk in his comer
office and thinks of who he should have
called hours ago. He’s a busy man but
understandably so. As creator of the festi
val he has a lot of responsibilities and with
less than a week to go he is frantically tak
ing care of last minute details.
The initial process of putting together
this year’s festival were put into motion
months and months ago and Ladely says everything is
coming together nicely. Of course, there have been
some set backs. James Cobum, who was invited to
attend the festival and win the Mary Riepma Ross
award for acting in the film “Affliction,” which he
picked up an Academy Award for also, is unable to
make it Two of the festivals strongest films have been ?
pulled by their directors to be shown in other festivals*
Still, Ladely keeps a positive attitude.
“Someday this festival will be famous and people
-*----——"”—* '■*
_ Please see FESTIVAL on 7