The Fox Theatre in Downtown Bakersfield presented the second annual Outside the Box Film Festival, Friday November 7 to Sunday November 9.

50 films in four genres were screened at the Fox Theatre over the three days. The best from each category won an award to complete the festival.

Rob Meszaros, a film festival committee member and festival’s publicist, said “The festival got started last year in collaboration with The Fox Theater Foundation and Inclusion films, which is a local practical film workshop for young adults with developmental disabilities. Inclusion Films was founded by Joey Travolta.”

Rick Davis, past president of the Fox Foundation board and retired Kern County Film Commissioner, and Joey Travolta, a former special education teacher, actor and director, came up with the idea and vision to start the festival.

“There are thousands of film festivals all over the world. The things that sets our apart is that it is only one of two in the country that has a focus on films made by or about people with special needs,” Meszaros said.

Michael Fagans, a photographer, filmmakers and storyteller, showcased his project, “Dost” at the Outside the Box Film Festival this Sunday. “Dost” meaning “Friend” in Pesto.

“’Dost’ to us is really nice multi-use because there is a friendship between the two soldiers and then there is the Afghani man, who is not named in the script on purpose, and him saying ‘I am a friend not a foe.’ So we try to be as layered as we can without beating you over the head,” Fagans said.

It is about two American soldiers who get “lost” in Afghanistan. The questions that arise ‘why did we get lost, How did we get lost in this country, how did we get lost from out units?’

I’m a photographer, photo journalist and filmmaker so I want to have different layers to this thing. So when I say lost I am not just saying ‘they took a wrong turn.’ No, they got ‘Lost!’” he said.

Fegans was working as a photojournalist in 2003 in Afghanistan when he realized he wasn’t getting the answers to the questions he had. He was with different units for a month.

“These are questions to me that we need to be asking as citizens. I am trying to pose as few answers as

I can but I want to show a realistic portrayal of what it is like over there. But also be respectful of the solders. We specifically don’t name a unit, or a battalion. So in one sense they are kind of generic but they’re definitely American. We wanted them to be interracial as well,” Fegans said.

Asking questions and getting people to think are among the things that inspire him and his film making.

The process of getting your film in a film festival is to submit your work online.

“We put a call out to the filmmaking community in the spring through a service calledWithoutabox.com. This is the premier location where filmmakers go to submit their films to film festivals. The top 50 were selected as “official selections.” These 50 films were then given to a third-party panel of industry experts to watch and score. These are the movies that were also played during the festival for people to come and enjoy,” Meszaros said.

According to Meszaros the film festival is getting great momentum and feels that this will be an ongoing event in the future.

To filmmakers out there he says to “Follow your dreams and never give up.”