Bemidji State’s Sixth Annual Headwaters Film Festival Begins March 28

March 23, 2018

Bemidji State University’s student-run Headwaters Film Festival returns for its sixth year beginning March 28 and will feature guests Wyatt Weed, a director and actor for Pirate Pictures, and Gayle Gallagher, a producer for Pirate Pictures, and culminate with a screening of the 1985 Robert Zemeckis classic “Back to the Future.”

Weed and Gallagher produced and directed “Four Color Eulogy,” which will be screened March 28 at 5:30 p.m. The pair will be in attendance at the festival and give a presentation on independent filmmaking March 29 from 12:30-1:45 p.m.

The March 28-29 festival, which will be held in the Upper Deck area of Walnut Hall on the BSU campus, is being directed by Samantha Bittner, a senior marketing communication major from Merrifield, Minn., and Judson Tharin, a junior mass communication major from Bemidji.

The Headwaters Film Festival opens with four sessions of International student films beginning at 1 p.m. March 28, and closes with the screening of “Back to the Future” March 29 at 5:30 p.m. In addition to screenings of films by international and Minnesota students, the festival again features a selection of entries to the Colorado Environmental Film Festival.

All Headwaters Film Festival events are open free to the public. The festival is sponsored by the BSU Department of Integrated Media and BSU Summer Programs.

Wednesday, March 28

  • 1-1:50 p.m. — International Student Animated Films
  • 2-2:50 p.m. — International Student Films, part 1
  • 3-3:50 p.m. — International Student Films, part 2
  • 4-4:50 p.m. — International Student Films, part 3
  • 5-5:30 p.m. — Blast from the Past Fashion Show
  • 5:30-7:30 p.m. — “Four Color Eulogy”

Thursday, March 29

  • 12:30-1:45 p.m. — Presentation on independent filmmaking by director Wyatt Weed and producer Gayle Gallagher of Pirate Films, Inc.
  • 2-3:15 p.m. — Colorado Environmental Film Festival Selections
  • 3:30-4:45 p.m. — Minnesota Student Films, with a question-and-answer session with select student filmmakers
  • 5-5:30 p.m. — Movie Trivia
  • 5:30 p.m. — “Back to the Future” (1985)

“Four Color Eulogy”

“Four Color Eulogy,” released in 2014, follows the travels of Chris, who returns home to St. Louis after a decade pursuing his dream of creating comic books in Portland to care for his ill mother. Upon his return, Chris and his girlfriend Anne, along with childhood friend and pop-culture aficionado Brian and bartending family friend Rich, explore Chris’s past — including the mysterious identity of his absent father.

The film was directed by Wyatt Weed, who also has a writing credit, and produced by Gayle Gallagher. Jason Contini, who wrote the screenplay with Weed, John Contini and Nicholas Hearne, stars as Chris.

Learn more about Weed and Gallagher at piratepictures.net.

Colorado Environmental Film Festival

The Colorado Environmental Film Festival, held Feb. 22-24 in Golden, Colo., uses the power of film to inspire, educate and motivate audiences to share stories about interconnected ecological, social and economic themes. The festival encourages sustainability in all aspects of its operation including waste reduction and recycling at its film screenings and events, use of recycled materials and supporting local, organic and fair-trade producers.

Back to the Future

Starring Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly and Christopher Lloyd as his mentor Doc Brown, “Back to the Future” follows McFly as he’s thrown 30 years into the past thanks to Brown’s newly-invented time-traveling DeLorean. There, he must ensure his parents-to-be meet and fall in love so he can return to the future. The 1985 blockbuster, which grossed more than $381 million worldwide on a $19 million budget, spawned two sequels and an animated television series.

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Bemidji State University, located amid the lakes and forests of northern Minnesota, occupies a wooded campus along the shore of Lake Bemidji. Enrolling more than 5,100 students, Bemidji State offers more than 80 undergraduate majors and eight graduate degrees encompassing arts, sciences and select professional programs. BSU is a member of the Minnesota State system of colleges and universities and has a faculty and staff of more than 550. The university’s Shared Fundamental Values include environmental stewardship, civic engagement and international and multicultural understanding.

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