This weekend, the stars will arrive at the big event in limousines, stepping onto the red carpet and making their way between the velvet ropes and into the theater.

The Cla-Zel Theater. In Bowling Green.

Sure, they’ll be doing the same thing Sunday at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, where the Hollywood glitterati will gather for the Academy Awards. But they’ve done that for 77 years now.

There’s never been an iMovie Festival @ BG, though—until Saturday, when eight short flicks by freshman filmmakers at BGSU will have their gala premiere at the venerable Main Street theater.

Beginning at 6:30 p.m., limos will indeed deliver the students to a red carpet outside the Cla-Zel’s door, along with those who will judge their work in the competitive portion of the event. The theater’s doors will open to the public free of charge at 6 p.m., and at 7 p.m., the festivities will commence with master of ceremonies Stephen Kendall.

Kendall, an instructor of telecommunications and multimedia productions manager for Instructional Media Services at BGSU, will introduce the movies—glimpses of the freshman experience at the University, each three-to-five minutes long, produced by teams of three to five students.

The films were selected for the Saturday screening from among 14 entries, encompassing the efforts of 70 students. While the first-ever festival has been roughly nine months in the making—after University Bookstore Director Jeff Nelson saw a Chronicle of Higher Education story about a similar event at Duke University—the filmmakers had only two weeks to shoot and edit their iMovies.

Apple representatives at Duke suggested a short production window, which festival organizers at BGSU refined to one week for filming with digital video cameras and another week for editing with FireWire drives. The finished products were due Feb. 16.

Open to all freshmen, the event was envisioned as a fun way for them to learn about campus resources, including the video equipment and the Student Technology Center, where they could use the equipment and get help if necessary, said Michael Hachtel, assistant director of residence life for information technology at BGSU and co-chair of the festival planning committee. But it was also meant to be an exercise in teamwork and in preparation of the kind of project increasingly required in college classes, he said.

“Presentations are getting more and more technical,” and the festival represents a chance for students to gain experience with video production before a class grade may depend upon their ability in that area, Hachtel noted.

One member of each participating team had to attend a training session on the event’s rules, which included no sex, drugs or alcohol in the films, he added.

To Saturday’s victors will go the spoils: an Apple iPod, along with a gift certificate for 10 free songs, for each member of the winning team; apparel from the bookstore for the runners-up, and a Flash (USB) drive from CDWG for each member of the third-place team. All participants will receive a DVD with all the films on it.

Among the judges will be Thomas Hofbauer, a BGSU alumnus and Toledo-based writer/producer/director whose films include the award-winning “In the Company of Strangers.” Judges from BGSU will be Marcos Rivera, co-director of the Office of Student Academic Achievement; Dr. Cynthia Baron, theatre and film, and Michelle Simmons, associate director and student employment manager in Student Employment Services. Rob Goldberg, a regional representative for Apple, will be the fifth judge.

In addition to the bookstore, the Student Technology Center and the Office of Residence Life, about 20 other BGSU units have assisted with the event, Hachtel said. Among them is the Resident Student Association, which will supply ushers at the theater and, soon after the festival, will broadcast the films on campus cable station WRSA, he said.

Off-campus sponsors include the Main Street Bowling Green association, he added, saying that organizers are “hoping to get this (festival) to be a tradition downtown.” Easy Street Café, Staples and Pepsi are also on the list of sponsors, who will be featured in slide shows and commercials in the theater from 6-7 p.m. Saturday.

Easy Street Café gift certificates and Flash drives will be among the many prizes available to the theatergoers, who can catch a ride to the Cla-Zel via University shuttle from parking Lot N beginning shortly before 6 p.m.

For more information on the festival, contact the Student Technology Center at 2-9277.