Tomorrow will mark the day of LUNAFEST’s return to NIU.

The film festival began in 2000, but this will only be its second time on campus.

This annual event is unique due to the fact that all 10 of its films are directed by women and discuss a variety of issues facing women today.

“It’s kind of multipurpose–the first [goal] is the support women filmmakers because filmmaking is such a men’s club and it’s really difficult for women filmmakers to get support and recognition,” said Megan Woiwode, student assistant at the Women’s Resource Center. “So they definitely want to support women filmmakers and in the same token, bring awareness to women’s issues because just by the nature of their experiences, male filmmakers often portray women differently than a female filmmaker would.”

The films range in length from four to eleven minutes and have all been previously screened, many of which won awards. The directors are geographically diverse; most hail from California, while others are from New York, Canada, the UK and Israel.

“All the films tackle different issues, and some of them are kind of quirky, but they’re fun. They’re informative,” Woiwode said.

Besides watching a series of exclusive, independent films, attendees can rest assured that they’re supporting a good cause. Money raised through the ticket sales will support the Breast Cancer Fund.

A raffle will also be held at the event, where local businesses have provided donations, which all attendees can participate in as long as they purchased a ticket.

“We wanted to give not just students and community members the chance to come help out, but also businesses to support it,” Woiwode said.

The event its sponsored by the Women’s Resource Center and tickets for LUNAFEST cost $5. The films will be shown in the Carl Sandburg Auditorium in the Holmes Student Center from 7 to 9 p.m.

The films: www.lunafest.org/the-films.cfm

Story about how it got started: www.lunafest.org/lunafest-story.cfm