CLC hosts indie creators at the Lake County Film Festival

Local and independent filmmakers are on display at the Lake County Film Festival (LCFF) during its 20th anniversary, hosted at the College of Lake County (CLC) Grayslake Campus. This two-weekend event, running from Oct. 31 to Nov. 3 and Nov. 8 to 11, features nearly 120 films, showcasing the creativity of both established and up-and-coming filmmakers.

CLC plays a key role in making this festival accessible to the local community, furthering its commitment to fostering the arts and providing educational opportunities for its students and the public. By hosting LCFF, CLC strengthens its ties with the local arts community.

Festival Director Nat Dykeman started the festival back in 2004 to bring films into the county so people wouldn’t have to drive to places like Chicago. He wanted to highlight stories that don’t get shown in mainstream movie theatres, while also inspiring young filmmakers. Over the years, CLC has become the perfect partner to help realize this vision.

“The Lake County Film Festival is always the highlight of my year,” Dykeman said. “I cherish showing all these independent films that I've loved so much throughout the year to audiences and interacting with both them and the filmmakers. The festival is about bringing great films from around the country and the world to audiences here, but getting to show so many films with Lake County roots makes this year more exciting than ever.”

LCFF features 28 feature films and 88 short films, including 22 submissions to the student shorts competition. A jury will pick one winner for best documentary and best narrative for the competition, with the winners being awarded a $250 cash prize from CLC’s communication arts division. Over 50 filmmakers are scheduled to be at the event for Q&A sessions.

The festival kicks off at 7 p.m. Oct. 31 with the festival’s first ever collection of short films made by Lake County filmmakers with a Q&A. With the opening night landing on Halloween, the first feature film at 8:30 p.m. is a horror film called “Room Six,” made by a pair of Lake County residents. This will also be followed by a Q&A.

Closing night includes two feature films with Lake County connections, including a soon to be announced film at 6:30 p.m. and “Lifers: A Local H Movie,” a film about rock band Local H that started in Zion, at 8:15 p.m.

Tickets for short film programs are $5 and $10 for feature films. Saturday and Sunday day passes are $25, while weekend passes are $50. Full festival passes are $90. The event is free for CLC students. To purchase passes, visit lakecountyfilmfestival.org

CLC also holds a free international film series each semester. Catch the showings of “Synonyms” (France/Israel, 2019) Friday, Nov. 1 and “Ennio” (Italy 2022) Friday, Dec. 6. Screenings are at 7 p.m. in room C105 at the Grayslake Campus.

For anyone interested in studying different aspects of film, learn more about the digital media and design and humanities programs.