Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Academy Award nominated filmmaker and Rockford native Bing Liu will return to the city in December as a featured guest at the second annual 815HORTS film festival.
Liu, a Guilford High School and Rock Valley College graduate, is best known for his 2018 documentary “Minding the Gap,” which was nominated for best feature documentary at the 91st Academy Awards. The film was also a Peabody winner.
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He was also segment director on “America to Me” and co-directed “All These Sons,” which won best cinematography at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival and the Maysles Award at the Denver International Film Festival.
“I’m excited to return to the city that first nurtured my artistic worldview and get involved in a conversation about the future of film in the Rockford region,” Liu said in a news release on Thursday. “I’ve seen firsthand that life in this part of the country is a deeply rich and complicated experience and I’m grateful that folks like Nick (Povalitis), Jerry (LaBuy) and so many others are providing a space to reflect on how we might translate some of these stories into cinema.”
Povalitis is the founder of Plus Seven Co., a Rockford-based events company that puts on the film festival. LaBuy is chairperson of Rock Valley College Mass Communication and executive director of Mosaic World Film Festival.
Liu’s latest short documentary “What the Hands Do,” premiered at the 2023 Camden International Film Festival. He is currently developing several fiction and non-fiction projects.
815HORTS is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 2 at the RPL Nordlof Center. Liu will be featured during the intermission “5HORT Talk,” which is an interview series moderated by Peter Hawley, the director of the Illinois Film Office.
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The 815HORTS guestlist also features Dena Altamore, who is the founder of SoundLight Entertainment, Don Hatton, founder of Dashford Media and Rockford Film Office, and LaBuy.
This year’s short film festival in Rockford also includes educational content, awards for Best 5HORT and Fan Favorite and film screenings including the 2023 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour.
Know before you go | 815HORTS
If you go: Doors open at 5 p.m. Dec. 2 at the RPL Nordlof Center, 118 N. Main St., Rockford.
Screenings begin at 6 p.m. and Hawley and Liu’s conversation begins at 7:30 p.m. The Sundance Short Tour starts at 8 p.m. and the 5HORT Awards are at 9:45 p.m.
On the web: Follow 815HORTS.com, the 2023 815HORTS Facebook Event Page and Plus Seven Company social (Facebook / Instagram / LinkedIn) for updates.
Submit a short film
Filmmakers interested in submitting a short film for review must make submissions via the 815HORTS FilmFreeway page at filmfreeway.com/
815HORTS submission terms and conditions, festival information and ticket information is available on the FilmFreeway page. Filmmakers of selected films will be notified by Plus Seven Company in November.