After a year of anticipation, the Clemson Student Film Festival is returning on March 2. This year’s event will be held in the Watt Family Innovation Center and will feature brand-new short films made by Clemson students for Clemson students.

The festival will be a full-day event with many opportunities for students to engage with the art of film. Though the schedule has not been released, the festival will follow the events of past years. These events will include a film panel, a screening of all the films submitted and a red carpet awards ceremony to round out the night.

The film panel this year is bound to be a memorable one with an appearance by Alec Sokolow, one of the screenwriters for the “Toy Story” franchise. Sokolow will be joining other film experts and former students to discuss how to navigate the film industry.

Along with gaining valuable information about the industry, students will have an opportunity to watch the student films that were submitted in a screening. Submissions were open for all Clemson students as long as the film was under 10 minutes and had at least one Clemson student on the cast or crew. All films submitted by Feb. 16 will be shown during a screening where students and Clemson community members can enjoy the art of cinema.

The movies shown in the film screening will then be put up for nomination in 12 categories: best short, best comedy, audience choice award, best directing, best writing, best production, best cinematography, best editing, best actor in a drama, best actor in a comedy, best music/sound and best costuming. These awards will be distributed during the red carpet ceremony, where attendees can dress to impress and feel like a Hollywood star.

The Film Festival is held every spring by the Clemson Film Club as a way to increase student engagement with the art of cinema. The Clemson Film Club helps introduce students to the art of filmmaking through weekly meetings at the Watt Innovation Center, which are open to all students regardless of major or skill level.

This year will mark the 3rd year of the annual event, with the past two festivals proving to be successful. For its annual festival, the Clemson Film Club is hoping to one-up last year’s event with the trailer marketing it as “better than ever,” according to the Clemson Film Club’s YouTube channel.