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Report for America is a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities.

Stateline Film Festival Takes The Party Outdoors

Beloit International Film Festival.
Beloit International Film Festival 2020 Reveal Party.

An organization that celebrates filmmakers is kicking off its flagship event in a slightly different way this year.

The Beloit International Film Festival is celebrating its 16th season with an outside, drive-thru Reveal Party. 

This event normally takes place indoors, but the pandemic prevented that from happening. 

Greg Gerard is the executive director of the film festival. He explained what people can expect. 

“We're going have a crew there handing programs to cars as they come by," he said. "And then just kind of talking about the program book.” 

He's comparing the event setup to a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Participants can also learn other news about the festival by tuning their car radios to 94.7 FM. They can listen to Gerard speak as they roll down the street.  

The party normally attracts about 150 to 200 people, but Gerard doesn’t think those numbers will be reached this year.  

However, he is advising participants to come early to avoid possible traffic.  

The pickup experience will take place Feb. 9 from 6 to 8 p.m. at IronTek, 635 Third St. There will also be a Facebook live stream.  

  • Yvonne Boose is a current corps member for Report for America, an initiative of the GroundTruth Project. It's a national service program that places talented journalists in local newsrooms like WNIJ. You can learn more about Report for America at wnij.org.
Yvonne covers artistic, cultural, and spiritual expressions in the COVID-19 era. This could include how members of community cultural groups are finding creative and innovative ways to enrich their personal lives through these expressions individually and within the context of their larger communities. Boose is a recent graduate of the Illinois Media School and returns to journalism after a career in the corporate world.