Festival creator and NIU professor Laura Vasquez has seen the film festival grow over the past 23 years.
"When we first started, we were probably getting six to 10 films entered in the festival, which is, as you might imagine, is a pretty small amount, " Vazquez said. "This year, we had 124 films entered in the festival. So we've gotten a huge increase. We're very specific in that we only want student short films. And so I think we're getting a pretty good representation, and films come from all over the world."
NIU students also handle all aspects of putting on the festival — from selecting the films to running the social media and marketing campaigns.
This is also the first year that some of the films will be shown at downtown DeKalb's Egyptian Theatre.
The Reality Bytes Student Film Festival will be held April 9 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at NIU's Cole Hall and April 10 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at DeKalb's Egyptian Theatre.