2002 Festival Recap

Notice to all filmmakers who participated in the Bearded Child 2002 Fest:

     Thank you for being an important part of this year's Bearded Child Film Festival. We are a "filmmaker's festival" dedicated to presenting works of art by people who are committed to making what they love. Each of the 50 plus films selected for this year's festival was shown specifically because they were made from the heart, without ulterior motives. They were all truly independent films that united for two nights in Northern Minnesota to fight Richard Gear and his evil Empire. Film on! You are the future of cinema.
     We are a festival that strives to celebrate the unconventional, and believes that most festivals are scams. It's completely unreasonable that a corporately sponsored festival needs to charge you more than a good meal's worth just to show your film, and more than a nice second hand suit just to see it. While we do charge an entry fee (sorry about that, by the way), and patrons must shell out $5 for a festival pass (or about $0.10 per movie), all money goes towards our fabulous prizes (almost $400 worth this year) and operating costs. We also give filmmakers and patrons the option of submitting tangible goods in place of standard currency ( i.e. $15 worth of marshmallow peeps for an entry fee, or $5 worth of Reynold's Wrap for a pass).
     This year's festival was programmed on a hot weekend in the Northland, as we were competing with the County Fair, stock car races, a fiddle contest and a bluegrass festival. Still, we attracted a dedicated following of low-budget filmmakers and hard core film junkies that were delighted by our wide range of experimental, absurd, or "would have been rejected anywhere else" fare. Keep at it! Your work was greatly appreciated here, and deserves to enter as many brains as possible.

Sincerely,
Dan Anderson, Bearded Child Festival Director

Special thanks to the following volunteers who made this event possible:

Our dedicated judges: Scott Linder, Don Boese, Amy Harrington, Brian Anderson and Mitch Mickelson

Lighting and audio during the festival: Adam Brace, Matt Syrwall, Seth Marty

Technical support: John Miller

Concessions and ticketing: Brian Anderson

Web design: Ed

Facilities and financial support provided by The Myles Reif Performing Arts Center.

*Also thanks to Beno's Pizza and Itasca Community College for hosting our Judges' Screening and to the Grand Rapids Herald-Review, Northland Reader, Ripsaw News, KAXE radio and ICTV for getting the word out.