A film made by South Alabama filmmakers Gideon Kennedy and Marcus Rosentrater is headed to three American film festivals this February, marking a significant step for the pair’s independent production, titled “Clandestine.”
The film has been accepted into the Thin Line Film Festival in Denton, Texas, now in its third year as a documentary and narrative showcase; the Black Maria Film + Video Festival, a long-running juried festival now in its 29th year that tours screenings nationwide rather than confining itself to a single city; and the Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, California, one of the more established independent film festivals in the country, marking its 20th year.
A Rare Multi-Festival Run for a Locally Made Film
Having a single independent film accepted into three separate festivals in the same month is a notable achievement, especially for filmmakers working outside the traditional industry hubs of Los Angeles and New York. The Black Maria Festival’s touring format means “Clandestine” will likely be seen by audiences well beyond any single city, giving the Mobile-area production wider exposure than a standard festival run would typically offer.
Kennedy and Rosentrater’s success reflects a broader pattern of independent filmmakers working out of the Mobile area who have been pushing to get South Alabama-made projects in front of national audiences, even without the backing of a major studio.
Update: “Clandestine” Adds a Jury Prize and a Hometown Screening
Since that early-year festival run, “Clandestine” has continued to build a longer resume than its makers may have anticipated when the Thin Line, Black Maria and Cinequest selections were first announced. The film also had its world premiere at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam the previous November, where it was chosen as one of 17 short films in competition out of more than 300 submissions considered for that year’s program — a notably competitive slot for a project made on a shoestring budget by two Mobile-area filmmakers with no studio backing.
At the Black Maria Film and Video Festival, the touring showcase noted in the film’s original festival announcement, “Clandestine” went on to win the festival’s Jury Prize, adding a competitive honor to a festival run that had already carried the film from the Gulf Coast to the Netherlands and back. The film was also set to travel to two additional festivals: the Indie Grits Film Festival in Columbia, South Carolina, and the Atlanta Film Festival, extending its reach further across the Southeast.
First Mobile Screening Set for South Alabama Film Festival
Despite its run through festivals on two continents, “Clandestine” had not yet screened for a Mobile audience. That changed with the film’s inclusion in the South Alabama Film Festival, where it was scheduled for its first Mobile screening on Saturday, April 3, at 5 p.m. in Bernheim Hall, to be followed by a brief question-and-answer session with the filmmakers.
Bernheim Hall is the auditorium space at the Ben May Main Library in downtown Mobile, a venue the library and local arts organizers have used over the years to host film screenings, lectures and community programs. Pairing an out-of-town festival success story with a public library screening is a familiar pattern for locally made independent films, which often find their first hometown audience through community venues and regional festivals rather than commercial theaters, before word of mouth and further festival exposure help built a wider following.
For South Alabama’s small but active independent filmmaking community, a homecoming screening carries its own significance apart from festival laurels. Local premieres give filmmakers a chance to share a project with the friends, family and collaborators who often make low-budget productions possible in the first place, and they give audiences in the film’s home region an opportunity to see work that has already found an audience much farther afield.