Filmmakers, industry representatives and anyone interested in film will have the opportunity to see some new films and connect with each other next month at the inaugural Sky Arts Film Festival at the Capitol Arts Center.

The festival is scheduled Oct. 13-16 and will showcase international, national and local films. Films will begin at noon Oct. 13 and 14.

Festival Director Andrew Swanson said opening night Oct. 13 will include a 90-minute block of six or seven short films made by filmmakers from Bowling Green, Nashville and Louisville.

“A lot of the films in the block were made by WKU alumni who are now professionals,” he said.

After the short film block, there will be an afterparty at OneRoof for anyone who attends the festival, which Swanson said will be a good chance to network and meet people in the film business.

Feature-length films will be shown throughout the day Oct. 14, with a red carpet event at 6:30 p.m. for the world premiere of the film “Land of Tomorrow,” directed by Travis Newtown, a film professor at Western Kentucky University.

At noon on Oct. 15, there will be a master class where Corey Allen, a Nashville-based director of photography, will live-build an expensive camera setup.

“It’s a one hour walk-through and will be live projected to the audience,” Swanson said.

Swanson said the class is designed for student-aged guests who don’t typically get to see demonstrations of that kind.

On Oct. 16, there will be a “really unique and rare opportunity for anyone interested in the film world” when the award-winning film, “1982,” will be shown at 7 p.m.

“It’s super rare for a small market like us and a first-year festival to get this type of film that has won the type of the awards it has won,” said Swanson.

“1982” writer and director Oualid Mouaness will be there for a Q&A session and a workshop after the film, which won awards at the Cannes Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival.

“We tried to tailor the majority of that day around him,” he said.

Swanson, a WKU alumni, said he came up with the idea for the festival after he and another WKU alumni made a film in 2017 and traveled the film festival circuit.

“We had a realization at a festival in Cincinnati that the logistics of Bowling Green and the Capitol theater were the perfect place to have a festival,” he said. “We started planning the festival and then COVID hit. Toward the middle of 2021, we picked up the idea again. We just really wanted to bring that type of environment here to Bowling Green.”

Swanson is hoping that film buffs, anyone wanting to learn about the film industry or teachers wanting to use information from the festival for media classes will attend.

“It’s just such a great opportunity for them,” he said.

Tickets are $50 for access to all four days, $25 for a single day pass and $10 per film block.

– Visit www.skyartsfilmfestival.com for more information.