By Michelle Lee
With the coronavirus pandemic still in full swing, the 2021 Reel Loud Film and Arts Festival is reimagining its existence outside of UC Santa Barbara’s Campbell Hall, its home for the past 30 years.
Vidhisha Mahesh, producer for Reel Loud, and director Jeffrey Peepgrass, are working to adapt this year’s festival to the pandemic, and carry on the festival’s legacy of fostering collaboration among the arts through video and socially-distanced activities.
It will kick off with a community mural painting and art exhibition event in early May. Then the bulk of the festival – selected films and artist performances – will occur on May 27. The submission process for short films and art opens on Monday.
Established in 1991, the Reel Loud Film and Arts Festival is an annual celebration of the arts supported by UCSB Film and Media Studies. A completely student-organized event Reel Loud unites artists across multiple disciplines. In previous years, the festival has received from 13 to 24 silent shorts submitted by student filmmakers. Along with its hallmark silent short films accompanied by live music, the festival features student art exhibits, a cappella performances, dance acts and stand-up comedy.
Festival producer Vidhisha Mahesh, and director Jeffrey Peepgrass, second and third from left on top row, at a recent Reel Loud committee Zoom meeting.
“Because of the pandemic, the entire event structure of last year has been scrapped,” said Mahesh, a third-year film and media studies and psychological and brain sciences double major. “But it’s also kind of freeing and exciting because we’re rebuilding something and reimagining it.”
To remain flexible in the event of potential changes in county health guidelines, and to maximize event accessibility, Reel Loud 2021 will be prerecorded. Submitted films and performances will be formatted into a single video posted on Reel Loud’s website on May 27 to watch, free of charge. If pandemic conditions allow, this video will also be screened at Goleta’s West Wind Drive-In for an in-person viewing experience the same day it is posted online.
An image from “Ravaged” by Nina Masjedi, a short film featured in Reel Loud 2019.
“We don’t know the future of the coronavirus and we don’t want to put all our money on a live drive-in event, only for it to not work at all and have to cancel it,” explained director Peepgrass, who is majoring in Film and Media Studies. “Having a prerecorded video allows us to still have an event in some way or another.”
In early May, Reel Loud will also host a socially-distanced community mural painting and art exhibition in Isla Vista, drawing in on the festival’s collaborative spirit and encouraging community members to physically immerse themselves in art.
While the drive-in video screening and community events partially recreate the live audience experience and interactivity of Reel Loud, the festival committee has determined that live music performances pose too great of a health risk. Consequently, this year’s festival will not be screening silent films accompanied by live music.
Still, Peepgrass plans to encourage collaboration between student filmmakers and musicians in a novel way.
“We had our music coordinator send out emails all over the music community in Isla Vista asking who would be willing to compose an original soundtrack for a filmmaker,” said Peepgrass. “Basically, the filmmakers will be able to match up with a band or musician that fits the vibe of their short film, and the two can work together to make some original music for the project.”
Despite the changes in festival operation and logistics, artistic collaboration remains at the heart of Reel Loud. This year’s festival theme, “Reimagining Connection,” celebrates how the connections forged by art can endure, and even thrive, in the face of a global pandemic.
A dance performance at the Reel Loud festival in 2017.
“This theme is really special to us because it encompasses what we’re trying to do this year,” said Mahesh. “We’re reimagining how artists can connect and still make work and impact each other in light of us being in separate rooms in the middle of a pandemic."
In a year full of uncertainties and isolation, Reel Loud 2021 is ultimately a reminder that through art, we can form meaningful connections that transcend physical boundaries — even beyond the doors of Campbell Hall.
“We encourage everyone to embrace the uncertainty of it all, reimagine the ways they do things, and find a way to connect,” said Mahesh.
Student submissions for silent short films and art exhibition entries will open on February 15.
Michelle Lee is a third-year communication major at UCSB who is also pursuing the professional writing minor. She wrote this piece for her Writing Program class, Journalism for Web and Social Media.