Arlington International Film Festival Selects Poster Winner

ARLINGTON, MA — The Arlington International Film Festival recently announced the winning poster for its 2021 festival. Elena Mathis, a student at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, won for her design, "allusion to peace." Mathis will receive $500 toward her studies.

The Arlington International Film Festival seeks to promote Arlington history and businesses through local artists. It accepts documentary, narrative, animation and experimental shorts, feature film submissions and submissions by high school filmmakers.

"My poster was inspired by the theme of documentaries, in particular, nature documentaries about birds with ridiculous courtship dances who always seem to love showing off for the camera," Mathis said in a statement.

The poster contest was the first project to spinoff from the AIFF after the festival's founding in 2010, connecting film with the arts. This year's competition was offered exclusively to Professor Robert Maloney's illustration class at MassArt.

"[The poster] is so different from designs of previous years!" judge Vicky Rodriguez said. "I love the playful and self-assured look of the bird, and how he is looking directly at the viewer. Overall, it is humorous and wonderful in its simplicity: bird, cameras, viewers. The color palette is unusual and eye-catching. As a poster design, it is spot-on: the image directs focus right to the center, to the already-integrated title text."

The 11th annual festival will be held virtually in November.