Local Film Festival Seeks to Highlight Wyoming Films

In the early to mid 2010s, an online Wyoming Short Film contest fielded submissions from various filmmakers, with the most popular (as determined by user votes) film winning $25,000 for its filmmaker. The final contest was held in 2016.

However, the idea of a Wyoming Film Festival has been brought back. Nid Collins, founder of French Creek Films, has created the 307 Film Festival, which will have its first annual event at Studio City UW on Saturday, April 14. In addition to films by Wyoming filmmakers, the festival will also bring foreign films and short films by American filmmakers.

Said Collins of the diverse entries, "we're an international film festival taking in films from all over the world with an emphasis on Wyoming films."

The festival will take place from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. The schedule is broken into 3 blocks: foreign films, USA films, and Wyoming films. In addition to the short films, there will be a feature length foreign film, and a feature length Wyoming film, which will serve as the festival's headliner.

The festival's headliner is "In This Gray Place" directed by Wyoming native R.D. Womack. According to its IMDb page, the film follows a criminal as he works with his girlfriend's brother to rob a pawn shop, leading to a police standoff.

Collins already has his sights set on the future of the festival. In a press release he said that "eventually, this is going to be a four day event that will bring tourism and economic growth to Laramie and renew the efforts of Wyoming filmmakers so that their work can be seen on a national stage."

Tickets for the festival are $20. In addition to the Studio City refreshments, there will be a selection of alcoholic beverages made available for festival attendees 21 and older.

A full list of films can be found here.