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HISTORY


It's hard to believe Hi Mom! is five years old already. Five! That's like 88 in festival years.

The festival got started back in the fall of 97 when a group of film students at UNC decided that Chapel Hill needed a short film festival with prizes and revelry. That first year, it was a homespun affair, under the direction of the power team of Ian Krabacher, Elizabeth Ingram and Cory Ryan.ÊFilmmakersÊwere awarded and the bestÊones won flaming trophies, which made the staff at the Local 506 noticeably nervous. Afterward, Sankofa and The Comas, who had yet to become fixtures in the local music scene, played a show.

The next year, things got a little classier as we moved down the street to the Carrboro Arts Center. Ian went to Japan and Elizabeth went to LA, so Cory Ryan took over, and she whipped things into shape and got dressed up for the screenings. Local fave Roger Beebe took home a big hunk o' flaming metal for his film "Fragmentary History of the 21st Century," and the A/V Geeks presented an unforgettable film about touching fur coats. A good time was had by all.Ê

This brings us up to the fall of 1999. Cory Ryan was Down Under, frolicking with the baby wallabies, so Kendra Gaeta and I took over as co-coordinators. It was a crazy time, the new millennium was upon us, digital filmmaking revolution was in full effect, and so we made some changes--we waived the entry fee, we started accepting videos as well as films, we decided to have two days of screenings. Hi Mom! that year brought guests from New York, Massachusetts, Florida, Providence, and Philly. They came for the films, but they stayed for the pancakes. After the festival, the future of Hi Mom! was in doubt. Kendra moved to San Francisco right afterwards, where she took over a Coordinator position with the prestigious (and now, sadly, defunct) Film Arts Festival. And I decided never to work on another film festival again in my entire life, so help me god.

Next thing I know, Kendra's festival was over,Êshe was moving all the way back to Chapel Hill with stolen trade secrets from FAF, and we were on for Hi Mom! #4. This one was a challenge. We pushed hard to make it bigger than ever, and the community supported us more than ever. Harris-Chewning, the Independent, the Cat's Cradle, and CO Copies made the whole thing possible. We got 350 entries, filmmakers came from as far away as Israel, and it wasÊa three-day festival instead of a paltrytwo. Ê Shortly after, Kendra and I took Hi Mom! on the road, going on a 10-city tour that started in Jacksonville, FL and ended up at CBGBs in New York City. We played at colleges, bars, nightclubs, and artspaces. While we were on tour, we saw manatees, photographed the All-Girl Skate Jam, ate at greasy spoons, and went to the prom. It was a whirlwind two weeks, and when it was over, Kendra went to the Big Apple and I ended up in Austin, Texas, disorganized, broke, and badly in need of sleep. Ê

Now it's time for Hi Mom #5, and Kendra and I are both really excited about this year'sÊfestival, partly because the organizers did such a great job, but mostly because we actually get to watch the movies this year.