History museum seeks films from middle, high school students

The N.C. Museum of History is looking for short films created by middle school and high school students for its inaugural Longleaf Film Festival.

There's plenty of time to get something together - entries are due March 1, 2015. The film festival is scheduled May 2, 2015. It will be held in conjunction with a new exhibit set to open next November called Starring North Carolina. It will follow the state's filmmaking heritage. About 3,000 films and television programs have been made in North Carolina.

The film festival will explore historic and contemporary stories from the state, the country and the world through narrative and documentary films, according to a press release. All winning entries will be shown at the May 2 event.

Categories include narrative feature, short narrative, documentary feature and documentary short. The middle and high school student film entries must be between 5 and 25 minutes. 

All festival submissions will be eligible for the $500 Judges’ Choice award, and all films made in North Carolina are eligible for the $500 Made-in-NC award, according to the release. Each film entered in the middle and high school student category is eligible for the $500 Best Student-Made Film.

As part of the exhibit, a monthly film series at the museum will run from September 2014 to January 2016 featuring movies made in North Carolina. The line-up includes "Bull Durham," Iron Man 3," and "Dirty Dancing."