Local Film Fest celebrates the arts

By Liz Tenney Jarvis

Each January for the last seven years, Purcellville area filmmakers have been featured at Purcellville’s Cabin Fever Film Festival. The festival is an event sponsored jointly by the Franklin Park Arts Center and the Town of Purcellville’s Arts Council.

Films ranging in length from one to 90 minutes are submitted for review and, if accepted, are shown in the auditorium at the Arts Center. For most filmmakers, this is the first time they will see their work “on the big screen.”  The festival has been able to draw from an ever-increasing pool of local talent.  The movies are created by a mix of amateur and more professional filmmakers.  

Over the years, the Cabin Fever Film Festival has launched, inspired and encouraged scores of local filmmakers. Several participants who entered as high school student age filmmakers, have pursued the study of filmmaking in college and plan on it as a career.

Franklin Park Arts Center’s manager, Elizabeth Bracey, said that the festival supports local filmmakers as well as local artists. According to Bracey, their mission is: Keeping You Connected to the Arts, and that goes for all mediums and across all programs. Bracey adds, “These filmmakers need a place to exhibit their films and hear and see audience reactions to their storytelling. It is critical to their development as directors and filmmakers.”

Recognition has also been awarded across categories that included “Audience Favorite” and “The Natural World.”  In 2022, Visit Loudoun was a sponsor for the award for “Film Most Representing Loudoun County.” 

Beginning in 2022, a cash prize was given to the winner in each category. Winners also received an award created by a Loudoun-based artist. In 2022 and 2023, glassmaker G’Ann Zieger was the artist chosen to design the first actual award “trophy.” Zieger says that it was an honor to have been commissioned for this endeavor which has led to more fused glass work.  

Zeiger describes this commission work for the festival as, “being allowed to create something in my medium to celebrate artists in another medium, an opportunity I don’t see happen that often. And of course, Elizabeth Bracey and her dedication to promoting the arts and artists offered not just this opportunity but laid the groundwork for other artists to see the benefit of celebrating the filmmakers of Loudoun County.”  This year a new artist has been chosen to create the awards.

The 2024 awards for “Festival Favorite,” “Mostly Likely to Break Cabin Fever” and this year’s theme of “Connections” were made by Purcellville ceramicist and high school art teacher, Geoff DeMark.  DeMark is a longtime participant in the Western Loudoun Artists Studio Tour along with his wife, Lori (a jewelry artist and an art teacher as well).  DeMark originally was “drawn in” by ceramics after taking an art class as a student at Penn State. 

DeMark received his Masters at Ohio State while working in mixed media. It was then a trip to Tucson and tile work that returned DeMark to clay as his medium. DeMark, having started a family, made his way back to the East Coast and felt that in addition to teaching, he wanted his children to grow up in a creative environment – where he and his wife Lori would be continually creating their own art in their home studio.  

DeMark also felt it was important to recognize the organizers and “thank Elizabeth Bracey for tapping into the creativity of all artists in our community.” The end result are three awards consisting of a unique, one-of-kind plate. Each plate depicts various raised faces/expressions in a swirling pattern with CFFF 2024 inscribed and glazed in the center.  

Co-sponsor, the Town of Purcellville’s Arts Council, has made it their years-long goal to support the arts and it endeavors to have Purcellville be a place where artists want to live and work. Amie Ware, manager of the town’s Parks and Rec Division and liaison to the Arts Council said, “Some make us laugh, some make us think, and some have us sitting on the edge of our seats. There is so much talent right here in Loudoun County, and it is an honor to be able to focus on our local artists.”

Further, Purcellville Arts Council member Karen Blodgett says that they offer a variety of activities throughout the year for all ages. “Having the Cabin Fever Film Festival in conjunction with the Franklin Park Arts Center starts the year off with contributions from amazing and talented local filmmakers and artists. It is a perfect beginning for the year to come. I encourage everyone to come and see the creative works of our local citizens!”

Liz Tenney Jarvis is the former Chair of the Purcellville Arts Council and co-founder of the Cabin Fever Film Festival.