Grand Rapids Comic-Con
DeVos Place, Grand Rapids
303 Monroe Ave. NW, Grand Rapids
Oct. 16–18, film festival Oct. 18
grcomiccon.com
Throughout the years superheroes and movies have gone together like, well, Batman and Robin. If you need proof of this, just step into any major theater and you’re pretty much guaranteed to have at least one character from DC or Marvel gracing the screens. Or, if you want to nerd out extra hard, just head to the Grand Rapids Comic-Con Film Festival.
The short film festival, sponsored and operated by the Compass College of Cinematic Arts, has been part of the convention since Mark Hodges (co-owner/event director) asked Joshua Courtade (faculty member at Compass College) to curate a film festival the very first year.
Since then, the convention has grown considerably in size, as has the film festival component. The first year of the festival, many of the films shown were made by students at Compass. This year, due to the overwhelming amount of submissions, only two Compass student films made it onto the screen.
“(Compass students) go through the same submission process as everybody else and when we do the judging of the films it’s the same process,” Courtade explained. “Since Compass is sponsoring the event we certainly encourage our students and alumni to submit, but it doesn’t necessarily guarantee them a spot, an award or anything like that.”
All film content must be PG-13 or lighter due to the all-ages stance of the Grand Rapids Comic-Con, and no feature-length films are shown, only shorts. Also, genre films are given preference, though Courtade says they don’t limit the lineup exclusively to that.
Needless to say, Grand Rapids Comic-Con patrons can expect plenty of action, suspense, heroes and villains on the big screen. And what’s the best part of it all? As long as you’ve paid to get into Comic-Con, entrance to the film festival is free.
“It’s no extra charge,” Courtade said. “Just walk on into the room and we’ll have two blocks of films playing. They’re about an hour and a half each and we’ve got some really good stuff this year.”
The Grand Rapids Comic-Con will be held at the DeVos Place from Oct. 16–18, with the film festival taking place on Oct. 18. For more information visit grcomiccon.com.
