On Friday, Nov. 15 and Saturday, Nov. 16, La Crosse Adventure Films will be hosting the 5 Point Film Festival at the Student Union theatre. The expo will begin at 6 p.m. and the films will start at 7 p.m. The film festival will focus on a theme of adventure and will showcase multiple short films about climbing, biking, running and a number of other activities. The event is sponsored by the Campus Activities Board (CAB), Pearl Street Brewery and Outdoor Connection among many others. 

Although this event is sponsored by many local businesses, the 5 Point Film Festival takes place annually in Carbondale, Co. After this occurs, the festival gives smaller communities the chance to host a “community collab” event. These events are typically hosted by independent organizations, the latest taking place in Salt Lake City, Utah.  

Keachen Abing and Aaron Koepke, founders of La Crosse Adventure Films, organized this community collab event. Koepke, who is also an Associate Lecturer on campus, said, “Keachen and I both started La Crosse Adventure Films as a way to host the event – we needed an organization to bring the event to town, so we created one. Our mission is to inspire through film. We believe that communities are made better when their people pursue adventure and intentionally live their best story.” 

Abing and Koepke became inspired to create the event after a conversation in their neighboring driveways. “We planned this event because we wanted to give people in our community the opportunity to come together and be inspired by films that tell incredible stories of inspiring people and places. We live in such a beautiful part of the world and are fortunate to have so many outstanding members of our community who work to make our home a better place,” said Koepke. “It seemed fitting to us to host a film festival that celebrates many of the same attributes and characteristics we have right here in the Coulee Region. If our event is successful this weekend, we’ll certainly try to plan another film festival next year.” 

CAB has also worked to plan the event. Event Coordinator Brennan Keller is the CAB representative in charge of the film festival. He and his fellow CAB members have prepared for this event since the beginning of the semester.  

Their preparation included spreading the word on social media and working closely with Abing, Koepke and the other co-sponsors to bring the event to life. Keller said, “[Koepke] put in so much work for this, it’s really exciting. [Abing and Koepke] care just as much as we do for the 5 Point Film Festival. I think this will be a really successful event.” 

Keller also said that the films showing at the festival will have themes of inspiration and adventure. All films shown on Friday and Saturday will be short films and will range from five to 20 minutes long. One of the short films in the lineup, called Far Out will feature Kai Jones, a twelve-year-old skier conquering the Jackson Hole slopes in Wyoming. 

Another film that is showing at the film festival is called Osama & Ayman, an eight-minute film highlighting the lives of two Muslim American brothers and skateboarders who must tread through Islamophobia in the United States. More information on the lineup of films can be found at https://5pointfilm.org/ 

Prior to the showing of films at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday night, the event’s sponsors will host an expo in the Entertainment Café at the Student Union. Representatives from each organization will be there to talk about their involvement in the festival as well as the support they hope to receive from the community.  

Keller said, “Keachen and Aaron really did a good job of reaching out to the local community to find so many interesting people to help run this event.”  

Organizations such as Wenonah Canoe, Dynamic Performance and Therapy, and Trail Transformation will be featured at the expo, according to La Crosse Adventure Films’ Facebook page.  

Friday night will be free for all students and tickets will cost $15 on Saturday for all attendees. Tickets can be ordered at the Student Union info counter or by going to https://www.uwlax.edu/university-centers/services/union-info-center-event-tickets/ 

La Crosse Adventure Films intends on donating 100 percent of proceeds to local non-profit organizations. This includes the Outdoor Recreation Alliance, Mt. La Crosse Ski Patrol, UW-La Crosse Ski and Snowboard Club, Everybody Bikes as well as other UWL student organizations. 

Koepke added, “We certainly wouldn’t be able to pull this event off if it were not for our fantastic sponsors: Dahl Subaru, UWL’s Campus Activities Board, the Outdoor Recreation Alliance, Pearl Street Brewery, and UWL’s Outdoor Connection. Because of that tremendous support from our sponsors and partners, we are able to donate all the profits from the film festival to local organizations that help people get outside and enjoy the Coulee Region.”