What does "Fringe" mean to you? That's what Film Fringe director Chris Strobel was looking for when he came up with Life on the Fringe, a new aspect of Film Fringe that experiments with short social cinema.
"The idea was trying to find a way to get media created specifically for the Fringe," the associate professor of electronic media and broadcasting at NKU and vice chair of the communication department says of the concept. "And one of the things that just seemed interesting to me was how people define what "the fringe" is. We found through judging in the past what's fringey to one person is not fringey to another; there can be mainstream fringe and then really off-the-beaten-path fringe."
The films were to be created specifically for the festival. This year's sole film was submitted by Ethan Philbrick (ethandancesinpublic.blogspot.com) and runs just over three minutes long. One of only two films submitted, the silent art piece is scored with some of Philbrick's own original music.
"My piece 'Life on the Fringe' was born out of a need to openly voice my sexual identity in Cincinnati," Philbrick says. "I wanted to do a public performance that explored having my queer identity be the focus of attention, instead of retreating like it usually does to an unspoken corner."
You can find out how he does this at screenings of the film 8:45 p.m. Wednesday, May 27 at Media Bridges or 6 p.m. Saturday, June 6 at the Art Academy of Cincinnati.
