For young filmmakers, student film festivals offer an outlet to showcase talents and learn how to market films. Every legendary filmmaker from Spielberg to Scorsese started out as a student in a classroom practicing dolly shots and learning from experienced professors.

The Reality Bytes Independent Student Film Festival welcomes filmmakers, students and fans of local cinema from 9 to 11 p.m. Tuesday in the Jameson Auditorium inside Cole Hall to support the art of film.

Reality Bytes has been screening student films from around the world since 2001, gaining tremendous popularity and attracting talent from across the globe. The festival showcases a wide variety of talent, and among the films this year is an animated short from Germany, “Rebrum,” directed by Maryam Panahi.

Laura Vasquez, media studies professor and festival creator, said the festival has gained rapid momentum with no intention of slowing down.

“If your movie doesn’t have a good story, it’s not a good movie,” Vasquez said. “Everyone loves a good story.”

Vasquez teaches her students the value of a good story through film interpretation and critique. Her students watched and discussed each of the 60 films submitted to the festival this year, writing reviews that detailed the strengths and weaknesses of each.

“There’s an array of talent among my students,” Vasquez said. “Everything takes time, whether you’re painting a picture or writing a book. My students put in a large amount of time [and] do the best with the time they have.”

Storytelling is the bedrock of any good filmmaker, and the audience needs to understand and be immersed in the world of the film. As the story unfolds, the audience begins to know the characters, understand their struggles and piece together the larger narrative. According to Vasquez, a festival selection that embodies excellent storytelling this year is “After Hours,” a crime narrative about a lonely bartender who meets a criminal hiding in her bar.

“It’s the stories we tell that shape our culture,” Vasquez said. “This is who we are as a people.”

Reality Bytes is a free public event with free parking provided in the visitor parking lot. Every film is a student-produced short with no selection over 30 minutes in length.