a brief history of THE REALITy BYTES FILM FESTIVAL
Free and open to the public, the film festival was established in 2001 by Dr. Laura Vazquez, professor of digital media production and theory. She serves as director of the festival, which was created to give film students the opportunity to competitively screen their work. Randy Caspersen, filmmaker and professor at NIU (pictured above with Dr. Vazquez) works with her to organize festival events.
Short fiction films and short documentaries (under 30 minutes) are accepted for submission into the festival from high school, undergraduate and graduate students from across the United States and around the world.
The selected films vary in genre from comedy to drama to animation, and focus specifically on strong storytelling. Each film category will also include a “Best in Show” award. There will also be a “Best in Show” award for the high school film category. “Best in Show” awards are cash prizes.
In addition, each night offers door prizes donated from local businesses.
Thanks to the online film submission system Film Freeway, employed to streamline the film submission and review process, the film festival has grown exponentially in recent years.