The 25th anniversary of the KINO Short Film Festival will take place at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre on April 25 and 26. Held every spring, this festival is an opportunity for advanced film production students to showcase their short films and receive feedback from an audience. It is also open to submissions from other University of Idaho students and alumni as well as regional filmmakers in the Pacific Northwest.
The Short Film Showcase will be on Friday, April 25, at 7 p.m. The best submissions will be screened and awards for top films will be presented at the end.
On Saturday, April 26, a documentary on UI biologists titled “The Snail Hunters” will premiere at 4 p.m., and at 7:30 p.m., the KINO Trailblazer Award will be presented to writer and director Megan Griffiths. One of her most recent films will be screened as well, followed by a Q&A, where the audience has a chance to learn more about her experience as a filmmaker.
Griffiths is a UI alumna who graduated in 1997 with a B.A. in visual communications and went on to have a successful career in film and television. She has directed shows on HBO, Hulu, Netflix and many more streaming networks, including season two of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” on Amazon.
Among her many awards, one of her most gratifying accomplishments was her feature film “The Off Hours,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011. Now, she is a part of the director’s branch of The Academy, the organization that runs the Oscars.
On April 16, “Cup of Joe” hosted an interview with Griffiths, where viewers got an insight into her life as a student at UI and as a professional filmmaker.
When asked about how her education at UI shaped and inspired her career, Griffiths said, “Currently, the reason I make movies still is because I’m trying to understand humanity and the whys of human behavior, and people making decisions that I otherwise wouldn’t understand. I get to dive in and explore that through character, and I feel like that all started when I was back a UI.”
She specifically admires the impact that a now-retired professor in the English department had on her. “I took classes from Anna Banks, and she is the person I always think of when I think of my time at the University of Idaho because she was such a supportive teacher to so many of us in the visual communications program,” Griffiths said.
Her most recent visit to Moscow was back in 2018 for a showing of “Sadie,” another one of her feature films. “That’s the last time I was in Moscow, so I’m very excited to come back and see what’s happening around there these days,” Griffiths said. She is thrilled to return and show her husband her favorite spots and reminisce on old memories.
Join future filmmakers at the Kenworthy to celebrate their films and congratulate Griffiths on earning the first-ever Trailblazer Award. Tickets are free for UI students and $8 for general admission on Friday, and free for everyone on Saturday.
Layla Phillis can be reached at [email protected]