Judges chosen for 35th annual Big Muddy Film Festival at SIUC | Community Spirit

CARBONDALE, IL (KFVS) - Judges are in place for the 35th annual Big Muddy Film Festival at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Filmmakers Bobby Abate, Jesse McLean and Julie Wyman will be part of the annual event, which brings some of the best of independent filmmaking to the region. The festival runs Feb. 20 through 24.

“I am excited about this year’s cast of jurors,” said Michele Torre, an assistant professor in cinema and photography and festival adviser. “The student coordinators have done an amazing job securing three very talented jurors, whose filmmaking crosses genres, techniques and styles.”

Started in 1979, the film festival remains one of the oldest film festivals affiliated with a university in the nation. The festival will feature both competition and non-competition screenings daily, and has juried films in four categories: animation, documentary, experimental and narrative.

“We’re honored to have these jurors be a part of this year’s festival,” said Silvia Dadian, a co-director of this year’s film festival. “Each will bring a unique perspective to the competition, and they are all doing really fantastic work.  The juror screenings and workshops are going to be truly exciting.”

Festival sponsors include The Arthur Agency in Carbondale, the Illinois Arts Council, WSIU Radio, SIU Carbondale Undergraduate Student Government, and the Student Fine Arts Activity Fee.

More festival information will be available at bigmuddyfilm.com/ or by email at info@bigmuddyfilm.com.

Copyright 2013 KFVS. All rights reserved.