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Capital City Film Festival kicks off this weekend

April 12, 2012

Lansing’s second annual Capital City Film Festival began rolling Thursday evening, with leaders and filmmakers gathering downtown for a red carpet opening celebration.

More than 50 films, ranging from heavy drama to light comedic shorts, will be screened from Thursday to Sunday in several locations in downtown Lansing.

This year’s festival is slated to be packed fuller than in 2011, including a lineup of live music acts and media-related seminars.

Event planners hope this year’s variety of events will resemble more of a diverse festival feel, taking after the model of the popular South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas.

“We wanted to make it more of a big experience, rather than a bunch of movies that are showing,” Program Director Dan Hartley said.

Hartley, a 2010 MSU alumnus, screened more than 200 submission films — about twice as many as last year — with producers from as far away as Asia.

MSU telecommunication professor Bob Albers kicked off the festival with a screening of his hourlong documentary about the inner workings of Elderly Instruments, a Lansing-based stringed instrument store.

Participants met in the velvet cocktail room at Troppo, 111 E. Michigan Ave., in Lansing, pausing at the entrance to get their photo snapped on the red carpet.

“It’s a good opportunity for MSU students to come to Lansing,” said elementary education senior Alli Pfeuffer, who attended the opening. “I never venture this way.”

The night concluded with the first musical act of the weekend, Greensky Bluegrass.

For a schedule of events, visit capitalcityfilmfest.com.

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