No Man’s Land Film Festival Successful despite Technical Issues

Despite this technical interruption, event coordinators and attendees stayed positive and lively throughout the event, laughing and conversing with each other. After 25 minutes, the problem was resolved by loading the films onto another computer. The patient crowd broke into applause as the event resumed. Kira Welch, organizer of the No Man’s Land Film Festival at Southern Oregon University (SOU) and student in the the Outdoor Leadership program, stated, “I couldn’t have asked for a better audience.”

After restarting the film multiple times, the group of students running the festival were unsuccessful in their attempts to fix the issue and resorted to calling an indefinite intermission. Only a few films into the No Man’s Land Film Festival, a presentation of short films celebrating women in the outdoors, the screen froze due to a corrupted file.

When asked how the films impacted her, Welch replied, “I walked away feeling super stoked and inspired to be a badass woman. That’s what I was hearing from a lot of others who attended the event, that they were really inspired, especially as females” She continued, “Even from a male perspective, there’s definitely a level of inspiration from watching anyone do really cool things, especially in the outdoors.”

“I thought No Man’s Land was a great event!” said Daniel Scott, a student at SOU. “I really enjoyed the variety of films, the variety of events displayed. And the fact that it promoted women in the outdoors, which is a white male dominated industry.”

SOU student Paige Miller commented, “I loved the opportunity to see these amazing films” She continued, “Being a lady who also partakes in outdoor activities, I loved seeing all the epic representations of women.”

“I thought the films were excellent. They were inspiring and gave off a really great message. These events are super important,” noted Outdoor Leadership student Nathan Swanson, “because they not only show people what women can do in the outdoors, but also inspire more women to get outdoors.”

Students, parents, and community members of all genders attended the traveling film festival held on Nov. 12 in the recital hall of the SOU music building. Both the SOU Outdoor Program and the Southwest Oregon Climber’s Association had tables providing information and sign-ups for outdoor adventure opportunities. In addition, the Women’s Resource Center sold concessions.

The festival featured a selection of short films celebrating women and girls of different ages, backgrounds, and interests. Welch hopes the films encourage women and students of all genders to participate in upcoming activities and trips put on by the Outdoor Program and wants to continue bringing No Man’s Land to SOU in the upcoming years.

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