Mr. Movie to host Tri-Cities International Film Festival Oct. 14-15

I’m playing host at the annual Tri-Cities International Film Festival festivities today and Oct. 15. All films this weekend are at the Uptown Theater in Richland. Tonight’s films run from 6 to 10 p.m., and they show from 1 to 10 p.m. Oct. 15.

Stop by, catch some excellent moviemaking, and say hello.

The festival is always lots of fun. I’ve been reviewing the festival’s films for several years, and it is interesting how the quality of moviemaking has evolved. Early on, submissions were crude, definitely amateur quality. Today, they come from across the world, and what you’ll see is often visually stunning. Subjects range from the simplest of concepts to those stretching into infinity.

It takes TRIFI organizers most of the year to gather full-length films and shorts. They were whittled them down to more than 50 science fiction shorts, around 40 horror shorts, more than 25 animated shorts, 11 documentaries and 12 feature films.

On Oct. 6, participating moviemakers — mostly in the Tri-Cities — were given a topic with some quirky parameters and 72-hours to write, shoot and edit it. Having seen films done in similar contests throughout the years, this is probably my favorite part of the festival. It’s truly mind-boggling what people can come up with in such a short amount of time.

Day passes are $10 and weekend passes are $15. For more information, go to www.trifi.org.

This story was originally published October 13, 2016 at 1:13 PM with the headline "Mr. Movie to host Tri-Cities International Film Festival Oct. 14-15."