SAVOY — The Chambana Film Society will hold a new independent film festival at the Savoy 16 theater from May 29 through June 2. The first annual Savoy Lumière will include screenings of independent films, foreign films, shorts and documentaries, several of which were filmed in Central Illinois.
Screenings will begin on Thursday at 6 p.m. with the feature film Brim and continue through the weekend until the final screening of the documentary Sally at 7 p.m. on Monday. A full program and film guide is available online.
Several filmmakers whose work is part of the festival will also attend, and audiences can go to Q&A sessions after some of the screenings. Chambana Film Society director Nat Dykeman said bringing films to people who may not have seen them otherwise is gratifying.
“More than half of these screenings will have filmmakers in attendance that people can talk to after the film,” Dykeman said. “I mean, that’s the best part of festivals.”
People who attend the Lumière may also spot local landmarks in films that were made in Champaign or nearby cities.
“An Affair At The End of Time” was directed by Chase Todd, and the short film was shot entirely inside a motel in Champaign. Todd grew up in Catlin, Illinois, where he said he fell in love with film at a young age.
“Growing up in a small town that is not diverse whatsoever, movies were my way to see the world,” he said.
He also said that seeing local work on screen will encourage aspiring filmmakers to work in Champaign-Urbana.
“It shows people in this area that you can do this,” Todd said. “It’s perfectly possible.”
Brim is another film that was shot in Central Illinois, mainly in Champaign and Monticello. The feature, directed by Keenan Dailey and written by Trude Namara, is a historical film that spans multiple decades and highlights the 1940s Jim Crow South and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, commonly known as the 1994 Crime Act.
Dailey and Namara met while they were students at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and began working on films together. Dailey said he was grateful for the community of filmmakers he found while studying here.
“It’s very easy to get your project started,” he said. “It’s very easy to get people who will come to collaborate because they’re excited about a new project in the space.”
Dailey also said that while the area’s natural landscape and historic buildings provided a scenic backdrop for their film, he felt deeply aware of Central Illinois’ history of sundown towns and segregation.
“It’s felt throughout the filmmaking process, and it does show up in terms of the energy that we’re baking into the film, just because we know the history of the area, and we know how that history evolves,” he said.
The Savoy Lumière will be Brim’s official festival premiere, and Namara said she looks forward to seeing audience reactions.
“I’m a big energy person. I am often very moved by what we have created and how it affects other people,” she said. “The intention is to heal, and I hope that it heals.”
Impacting audiences is an intention that Dykeman shares.
The effects COVID-19 had on movie theaters still linger today, and Dykeman said this can make it even more difficult for low-budget, independent films to be seen by audiences. He hopes that festivals like the Lumière that focus on screening indie films will provide a refreshing break from blockbusters and create an experience he said isn’t available on streaming platforms.
He said film festivals are for those who “want to see something that might spark some conversation, something different than what they might have normally seen, something that maybe makes them think or feel in a different way.”
He also recalled one of his early jobs renting video tapes to people. To Dykeman, running a film festival brings him the same sense of satisfaction.
“There’s a joy in connecting people to things again,” he said.