Big Muddy Film Festival

Big Muddy Film Festival The Big Muddy Film Festival celebrates the innovative works of emerging and established filmmakers and media artists.

The Big Muddy Film Festival, housed within the School of Media Arts at Southern Illinois University Carbondale is an independent, community-focused film festivals in its 44th year. Big Muddy is among the oldest student-organized film festivals in the United States. The Festival provides cash awards to the best works in competition in the categories of experimental, documentary, narrative, and anim

ation. The program is juried by three artists or critics of national and international recognition. Past Jurors have included Barbara Hammer, Naomi Uman, Jim Jarmusch, Kerry Laitala, James Benning, and Sasha Waters-Freyer. A panel of local activists awards The John Michaels Memorial Film Award, which honors films that address themes of peace, justice, community action, human rights, and environmental conservation.

What were your favorite moments at the Big Muddy Film Festival?
03/25/2026

What were your favorite moments at the Big Muddy Film Festival?

What were some of your favorite moments at the Big Muddy Film Festival?
03/25/2026

What were some of your favorite moments at the Big Muddy Film Festival?

The Mike Covell Award Goes to:Lake House Directed byJared Treece“After the tragic death of her sister Tonya years before...
03/23/2026

The Mike Covell Award Goes to:

Lake House

Directed by

Jared Treece

“After the tragic death of her sister Tonya years before, Mae returns to her family’s lake house to finally come to terms with the death of her sister. When she returns, she starts to realize things are far from normal, as a series of paranormal events take place involving around a mysterious figure.”

Jared is an award winning cinematographer/photographer from Waverly, Illinois. Growing up, he was fascinated with camera from an early age. Him and his friends grew up making short videos and sketches that they posted online. Later, he went on to pursue a BA in Cinema and Photography from the Southern Illinois University (SIU), where he collaborated on many films and found a calling at the cinematographer position. He since then went on to be apart of a number of documentaries and marketing videos in the central Illinois area where has racked up numerous awards including a regional Emmy award.
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The John Michaels Social Justice Award Goes to: Teaching America Directed byAnurima Bhargava“Teaching America is a short...
03/23/2026

The John Michaels Social Justice Award Goes to:

Teaching America

Directed by

Anurima Bhargava

“Teaching America is a short documentary exploring the battle around the teaching of African-American history and studies from inside the classroom, focusing on the transformative journeys of the Arkansas teachers, students and families who are part of the very first, inaugural classes of students taking Advanced Placement African-American Studies nationwide.”

Anurima Bhargava is a civil rights lawyer and filmmaker dedicated to promoting dignity and justice in our schools, workplaces and communities. Teaching America is her directorial debut; she has also served as a producer and advisor to numerous documentaries, including Writing With Fire, While We Watched, The Body Politic, The Vow (docuseries), A Shot At History, and The Inquisitor. She previously led civil rights enforcement in education at the U.S. Department of Justice and directed the education practice at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. She chairs the U.S. Board of Doc Society and serves on the Capacity Council for Brown Girls Doc Mafia.
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The Cade Bursell River Award Goes to:Free to GrowDirected by Jesse Andrew Clark“Rural Oregon families have taken up the ...
03/23/2026

The Cade Bursell River Award Goes to:

Free to Grow

Directed by Jesse Andrew Clark

“Rural Oregon families have taken up the fight against aerial herbicide spraying by the forestry industry for over 50 years – but has public safety around these substances improved?
‘Free to Grow’ is a chilling portrait of three Oregon families putting everything on the line to keep themselves safe from herbicide exposure.”

Director Statement
“Free to Grow” is my most personal film yet—a hard‑cut exposé of the hidden costs of “business as usual” in America’s timber heartland. For decades, Oregon communities—including mine—have been fighting to stay safe from herbicide‑tainted air and water, while corporate interests continue treating forests as endless cash cows. This film is a long overdue public awareness piece and call to action.

As an independent filmmaker rooted in rural Oregon, I give voice to the people who live among its forests. My work challenges the old narrative that forests exist only for profit and instead frames them as living ecosystems we must protect if we want a livable planet for future generations.

My recent forestry-themed films aim to bring the Pacific Northwest’s rainforests (spanning Northern California, Oregon, Washington, and BC) to a level of global attention long-deserved, but seldom enjoyed. These forests are the planet’s most powerful carbon sinks, and keeping many of them intact could be our best defense against climate catastrophe.
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The Best Animation Film Award Goes to:Filkool Directed by Maral Forouzesh and Naser Rezaeiyan “The story is about a big,...
03/23/2026

The Best Animation Film Award Goes to:

Filkool

Directed by Maral Forouzesh and Naser Rezaeiyan

“The story is about a big, different creature named FILKOOL who doesn’t fit in his house. Everyone tries to change him, until a child with Down syndrome enters and shows in a simple and unique way that he doesn’t need to change. The animation depicts the characters’ movements with the real calmness and slowness of children with Down syndrome. The work is based on the drawings of my brother MAZDAK, who has Down syndrome, and we have been creating different worlds together for years. All the voice actors in this animation are people with Down syndrome.”

Director Statement
This animation is more than just a story; it’s a reflection of my life. A heartfelt narrative shaped by years of living alongside my brother, who has Down Syndrome—a perspective that has not only defined my art but also given meaning to the path of my life.
I’m not just an illustrator or a director. I’m a sister who has grown up beside MAZDAK, whose presence has filled my world with light, creativity, and wonder.
What others might see as an artistic project has become a way of life for me—a way of seeing, understanding, and living with love and respect for differences.
The character of FILKOOL was born from MAZDAK’s drawings. Even the name came from him—it’s what he used to call me as a child.
With FILKOOL I want to say:
We don’t need to change one another to be together. We just need to see, to understand, and to accept—exactly as we are.
And maybe, when the story ends, a small light will remain in your heart—a light that is quiet, but true.
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The Best Documentary Film Award Goes to:Making Ice CreamDirected by Danyelle M Greene“Making “sugar-full” homemade ice c...
03/23/2026

The Best Documentary Film Award Goes to:

Making Ice Cream

Directed by Danyelle M Greene

“Making “sugar-full” homemade ice cream was always a family tradition filled with togetherness, laughter, and the sweet taste of home. But when the matriarch of our family passed more than 20 years ago, the tradition seemed to slowly melt away. In Making Ice Cream, my mother, Abigail, searches for a new recipe to rediscover the sweet taste and joyous memories that Grandma poured into every spoonful.”

Director Statement
Our senses hold memories. A familiar smell, sound, taste can bring us back home. Making Ice Cream was created from a desire to rediscover the recipe for the sweet taste of my grandma’s homemade ice cream. With no exact recipe left behind, my family and I started with a generic one online. We added sweet cream, much more sugar, and molded the mixture, trying to approximate the taste (as close to how we remembered it).
While making this documentary, I found the one clip of VHS home video that we have of my grandmother. I not only hear her voice for the first time in 20 years, I got to see how much her playful personality is reflected in my mom and I.
This short documentary isn’t just about dessert. It’s about the process of making and memory: the clink of the whisk in the mixing bowl, the hum of the churning machine, the taste of the sweet cream before it’s even finished. Each moment brought pack pieces of the past.
The memory of my grandma, who passed more than 20 years ago, is at the heart of this short film. My mother’s voice guides the story as she remembers how homemade ice cream always brought the family together.
The verité style of the documentary is reminiscent of old home movies, where those behind the camera and in front are in the moment—capturing the experience—together.
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The Best Experimental Film Award Goes to: My Shadow Directed by Astra Silver Burke“An introspective meeting with puppet...
03/23/2026

The Best Experimental Film Award Goes to:

My Shadow

Directed by Astra Silver Burke

“An introspective meeting with puppet Pierrot motivates a sleeping girl ...”

Director Statement:

Art should raise more questions than it answers, shouldn’t it?
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The Best Narrative Award Goes to:Choy: The Making of Directed by Maxwell Johnson“A student filmmaker is tested when he ...
03/23/2026

The Best Narrative Award Goes to:

Choy: The Making of

Directed by Maxwell Johnson

“A student filmmaker is tested when he attempts to make a documentary about his documentary film professor.”

Director Statement:
During my sophomore year at the Tisch School of the Arts, I took the class “Sight & Sound: Documentary” with professor Christine Choy. For my final project, I made a film about my parents’ old anthropology professor, Jerry, who became a mentor to me during my high school and early college years. He was influential in my pursuit of filmmaking, and I cared deeply about his opinion of my work. When I sought to make a documentary about him, all I wanted to do was honor who he is. He ended up hating the film and demanded that it be taken down. When I told Christine about Jerry’s reaction, she was elated and said that it proved I had captured him well.
Two years later, I decided to return to the project when I convinced Christine to play herself in the place of Jerry. Choy: The Making Of is my examination of mentorship and the ethics of documentary filmmaking, using the cinematic and documentary formats to confront the relationship between who’s in front of the camera and who controls it.

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03/21/2026

We’re still screening our To be Human program at the varsity. We have some lovey filmmakers here ready to answer your questions! Stop by the Varsity on the strip to view our last film program of the festival❕ BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE — we will have a special guest in the audience tonight ‼️
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This award rd recognizes Southern Illinois University’s MCMA’s very ownalumni. This award serves as a reminder that art ...
03/21/2026

This award rd recognizes Southern Illinois University’s MCMA’s very own
alumni. This award serves as a reminder that art can channel a message and
speak up for marginalized people & communities, preserve elements of human
rights, and present alternative things. Big Muddy Crew exists because of Mike
Covell and also because of the students who’ve kept it running year in and year
out. The unique contributions of students who have taken the helm in
orchestrating the festival makes it what it is today.
Mike Covell, Big Muddy founder, believes the festival’s core of showing
quality and important work of independent filmmakers is crucial. Students run
this festival and then leave to venture off into the world and a career of
filmmaking or media arts. This award will be for an SIU alumni who’s film is one
of thought provoking nature. Mike Covell once said “one of our goals is to honor
individual voices and balance the realms of beautiful artistic endeavor as well
as those that are politically oriented.”
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John Michaels was a cinema student at SIUC in the 1980s who dedicatedhis work to peace and justice. After leavingCarbond...
03/21/2026

John Michaels was a cinema student at SIUC in the 1980s who dedicated
his work to peace and justice. After leaving
Carbondale, Michaels was diagnosed with brain cancer, from which he did not
survive. To memorialize his work, the Big Muddy Festival added an award
category to encourage filmmakers who focus on creating inspiring stories about
struggles for social justice, locally and in the world.
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1100 Lincoln Drive
Carbondale, IL
62901

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