URBANA – If you encounter a tarantula this weekend on the University of Illinois campus, don’t be alarmed: It’s there with good reason.
The 42nd annual Insect Fear Film Festival takes place this Saturday at Foellinger Auditorium in Urbana, and its feature bug this year is the tarantula.
The U of I Entomology Graduate Students Association organizes the festival every year, which includes an insect petting zoo, guest speakers and film screenings, in an effort to educate the public about insects and their place in nature.
According to Association President Joe Spina, “the quote that the original organizer, May Berenbaum, likes to use is that ‘you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar.’ The idea is that we kind of bring people in with this fun little excursion.”
The honey, in this case, is the series of activities that the Association puts together. They’re designed to offer a fun night out while also teaching about the featured creature in a unique way.
“[We] show some movies, you can pet some bugs, but by actually coming in and engaging with the entomology department in this way, they can kind of learn more about the insect group of animals and come to appreciate them more as full-fledged parts of the ecosystem,” Spina said.
The film for this year’s festival is “Arachnophobia,” a horror-comedy in which a small town is overrun by spiders.
The festival centers around insects, but tarantulas are not actually insects. They, and other spiders, are arachnids. Spina said that the public’s mix of fascination and fear toward the eight-legged creatures warranted its selection as this year’s star.
“Tarantulas are a surprisingly charismatic species. They are very noticeable, everybody has some familiarity with them,” Spina said.
Steven Kutcher, known as “The Bug Man of Hollywood,” will also make an appearance to discuss his work through a series of film clips, according to the IFFF website. He is famous for being a “wrangler” of insects and other arthropods.
Other attractions this year include the ever-popular insect petting zoo, arts and crafts, a spider-themed art gallery and an electron microscope branded as the “bugscope.”
EGSA Board member Xavier Carroll said that he is most excited about the bugscope.
“We have a host of different spider families that you can look at underneath this specialized microscope that allows you to look at the micron level. It allows you to see structures on small hairs and the eye structure. You can see really tiny, tiny features,” Carroll said.
One aspect of the festival that does not change from year to year is the hard work the Association puts into the IFFF.
Carroll said that most of the work is planning-based to ensure that every detail of the festival is taken care of.
“It’s a lot of planning. They have to find the venue, there’s a lot of work in finding the movie, they have to coordinate with outside scientists to bring in speakers and specialists. There’s also booths that we put into it, and there’s art events that we host, too,” Carroll said.
The IFFF is free and takes place Saturday, Feb. 22, at Foellinger Auditorium. Doors open at 5 p.m., and the film starts at 7 p.m.