Keith McDaniel (Submitted photo)
The Secret City Film Festival will make history this year by becoming the first in the nation to screen all of its movies in a format used by the film industry for new movies in digital theaters across the country, organizer Keith McDaniel said.
The format is called the Digital Cinema Package. It will be used at the 9th Annual Secret City Film Festival scheduled for Sept. 21-23 at Downtown West Cinema 8 in Knoxville, an all-digital theater.
“As a filmmaker myself, I know it’s very important that a film look as good as possible when screened at film festivals,” said McDaniel, an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose films have screened on national television as well as at film festivals around the world. ”But that doesn’t always happen.”
The film festival, which has previously been held at the Oak Ridge Playhouse, has used the best projection system possible, McDaniel said. Still, even though it’s been good, “it pales in comparison to the DCP format we are using this year,” he said.
McDaniel worked with Chris Dotson, chief executive officer of Knoxville-based EonEntertainment Inc., to make the conversion process affordable, quick, and “hassle-free” for filmmakers.
Once they were satisfied that choosing the DCP format was practical, McDaniel and Dotson worked out an agreement under which EonEntertainment would convert all 55 films to be screened at the festival.
McDaniel said the Secret City Film Festival screens features, documentaries, shorts, and student films. A seven-day filmmaking competition this year features 20 teams who have seven days to complete a seven-minute film. The 20 teams include more than 200 producers, directors, writers, production crew, and actors. All of those films will be converted to DCP in time to screen at the festival, McDaniel said.
For more information about the 9th Annual Secret City Film Festival, visit www.secretcityfilmfest.com or call (865) 742-8783.
