The third annual Hope and Freedom Film Festival, a nonprofit event organized entirely by communications students and alumni of Cal State Long Beach, will be held on Friday at the Art Theater.
The event allows the Long Beach community to watch free movies for a day while fostering communication through public debate, discussion and civil dialogue, according to Kevin Johnson, executive director of the event and director of Research at the Center for First Amendment Studies.
“We all have this common sense of togetherness in terms of our ethics toward one another, and we don’t really like things that treat other people poorly,” Johnson said. “So this festival helps to celebrate the best humanity in terms of the shared vision that I think many of us have.”
The idea for the film festival stemmed from one of Johnson’s persuasive speaking class projects for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Long Beach, in which students had to create a project that would encourage youth participation in the political process.
Johnson thought the festival would be an opportunity to bring central focus to a lot of films important for the larger community to see.
Each CSULB student or alumni volunteer takes on a different task in putting together the film festival in order to host a forum where people can communicate with each other on issues of public concern.
“It really does take a lot of involvement, and different people are involved at varying levels, all the way from people involved in the day-to-day operations to people who just mention our film festival and plan on attending it,” Johnson said.
Students are learning necessary skills on practical levels for running an event, such as event planning, addressing the audience and interacting with different community organizations, according to Johnson.
“I have learned more from being one of the directors than I ever imagined, because I am surely developing a sharp eye for detail and I am learning how to better promote the event,” said Dana-Jean Smith, graduate student and executive editor for the film festival since 2009.
“Most of all, the film festival reminds me to be conscious of voices that are not highly or favorably recognized in society and are suppressed,” Smith said. “Beyond just acknowledging voices, I keep in mind that some sort of action needs to take place.”
Nathan Wensko, senior communication studies major who is participating in the festival for the first time, said it’s a challenge to work the festival and manage a heavy workload, but it is definitely an exciting and groundbreaking experience.
“I think it takes you away from being just a number and starts to create you as an academic student,” Wensko said. “I mean, it really takes you away from your student ID number to being your name.”
The film festival is from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and will show nine different movies.
Admission is free, but donations are accepted online at hopeandfreedomfilmfestival.org.