CHAPEL HILL – The eighth-annual Carrboro Film was well received this weekend, setting new standards for future film festivals.

Director of the Carrboro Film Festival Nic Beery said this was the biggest year so far.

“This year’s festival was bigger and better than ever. We broke box office records, we had international films, we have short films from around the corner and from around the world, and the audience response was nothing short of breathtaking” Beery said.

Some of the changes to this year’s festival included allowing foreign movies, and movies longer than 20 minutes.

This was also the first year the Carrboro Film Festival was split between two venues, the ArtsCenter and the Century Center. Beery said he was nervous about it, but the turnout ended up great.

“I was nervous about that, but I do believe it was a success. We averaged many more people in the audience for every block than we anticipated” Beery stated.

Although this year the Film Festival included several foreign films and longer movies, Beery said that the majority of the films were still from artists in North Carolina.

“I’d say 60 to 70 percent of the films were made from North Carolina filmmakers, which is awesome, which is a statement to how great our filmmakers are here at home, but it was nice to see films from Spain, and England, and France, and around the country too” Beery said.

Hundreds of artists and filmmakers from across the state submit movies for the festival, but not all of them can make it.  Beery said that as the festival grows, it gets harder selecting which films make it.

“It’s very hard to pick films for the Carrboro Film Festival; this year we got hundreds of films and quite honestly many of us felt there was 30 to 40 hours of film that we just couldn’t show, and it gets harder as the filmmakers kick it up a notch every single year” Beery said.

The Carrboro Film Festival takes place the weekend before Thanksgiving.

For more information on the Film Festival click here.