Lights, camera, action! For eight years, the East Lansing Film Festival (ELFF) has been enriching the mid-Michigan community by showing independent films of all kinds— engrossing features, hard-hitting documentaries, and clever short films.

Here are some of the highlights of past ELFFs: an in-person interview with the prolific and very talented Oliver Stone at the Wharton Center; Michael Moore giving a one and half-hour stand-up comedy routine after the premiere of his film The Big One; the world premiere of Love and Basketball with the 2000 NCAA Michigan State University basketball champions attending; actor/director Adrian Grenier from HBO’s Entourage attending; director Shimmy Marcus from Ireland discussing his comedy Headrush; Sophie B. Hawkins attending; the screening of Standing in the Shadows of Motown with director Paul Justman and the Funk Brothers attending; and countless other exciting, unique and enthralling cinematic events.

This year’s ELFF takes place March 22 to March 26 and it promises to be one of the best. More than 120 films from around the world will be shown. These are films that will touch your heart, challenge your intellect, tickle your funny bone and stay with you long after the lights come up. You will see films that can only be seen at a film festival or in a large metropolitan city. For many of the films, you will have the opportunity meet the film’s director and hear him or her talk about the film and answer your questions. Some films will have panels discussing the film’s topics or issues. Don’t worry—you can also have popcorn.

The 9^th annual East Lansing Film Festival kicks off with the Michigan premiere of Nine Lives, an award-winning film by Rodrigo Garcia that tells nine separate stories about women. The stellar cast includes Sissy Spacek, Holly Hunter, Robin Wright Penn, Dakota Fanning, and Glenn Close. This takes place at 7:30 p.m. in the theater of the East Lansing Hannah Community Center on Wednesday, March 22. On Thursday, March 23, another film, to be announced, will be shown at the Hannah Community Center.

The film festival then moves to Wells Hall on the MSU campus where we transform the B Wing into a mini-multiplex with four theaters all next to each other. On Friday, eight films will be shown including the very popular Short Films Program, a compilation of many different short films from around the world. This is your only chance to see these wonderfully creative films that are like short stories on film.

On Saturday, a seminar on “The Trials and Tribulations of Making an Independent Film” with all the visiting directors will be held at 11 a.m. in Wells Hall. Beginning at 1:30 p.m. and lasting till 11:30 p.m. that night, more than 20 films will be shown and another Short Film Program with new shorts will be presented.

Sunday is dedicated to the Lake Michigan Film Competition, the only film competition that awards films made in the states that border Lake Michigan—Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. The films begin at 11:30 a.m. and end around 6:30 p.m. with the LMFC awards ceremony where cash prizes are awarded to the best three films in each of the following categories: feature, documentary, short, and student films. A new LMFC award donated by Message Makers awards a filming package valued at $10,000 to the Most Promising Student Filmmaker. The LMFC Sunday is packed every year and almost every single film has a director attending.

This year, ELFF is hosting a brand new competition, the 48/5 Film Contest, where teams must create a five-minute film in just 48 hours. The contest will begin at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 17, and end on Sunday, March 19 in East Lansing. The winning films of the contest will be shown at the film festival.

For more information about the festival and the 48/5 Film Contest, visit www.elff.com or call 517-336-5802. Look for the ELFF schedule that will be at Video to Go, bookstores, coffee shops and other locations by the end of February.

Tickets, $7 and $5 for students and seniors, will be available for purchase online beginning March 1. The passes that gain entry to all the films range from $30 to $150.

		Susan W. Woods is director of the East Lansing Film Festival.