Some think of sports as art and of athletes as artists, with their bodies as the paintbrush and the field as their canvas. But combining more traditional models of art and athletic style is never an easy feat. The Columbia Renegades are always looking to do just that, and their latest endeavor aims to showcase sports on the big screen.

The Renegades are currently accepting submissions for their first Athletic Film Festival, inspired by the group’s vice president and its treasurer, both of whom are film and video majors.

“[Renegades Vice President] Forrest [Frazier] had this idea to do a film festival to get more outreach for the Renegades and to get people more involved from different majors,” said Renegades Treasurer Ben Manns. “We had the logo contest earlier this year, which got the graphic designers involved, so we wanted to get film majors involved now.”

The idea for a film festival started during winter break, a little late for Frazier’s taste. He said having more time for submission deadlines would have been beneficial and added that this year will be a litmus test for future festivals.

“If it doesn’t go over well because of the short amount of time that we had that just means that we need to start earlier, which I want to do anyway,” Frazier said. “No matter what, we’re going to have another film festival next year, and we’ll start it off at the beginning of the year.”

The original deadline has been extended from March 22 to April 2 to accommodate more submissions, Manns said. There was only one submission as of press time, but Frazier is hopeful that the number will grow to six or seven.

“We put all the calls for submissions out in our building, and they got a lot of tear-offs, so we’re hoping that’s a good sign,” Frazier said. “We have two more [submissions] committed from my class, so we really just need four more from students in general.”

The festival is only open to Columbia students, but the film’s subject matter doesn’t have to be Columbia-related, he said.

The submitted films should be three to 10 minutes long with a storyline focused on some kind of athletic movement.

“If anyone wants to send in anything that involves dance, skateboarding, weight lifting, working out or jogging, they can,” Frazier said. “If it’s anything showing that the body is active, we’ll accept it.”

The Renegades members will review the films before showing them on the big screen April 9 at Film Row Cinema in the Conaway Center, 1104 S. Wabash Ave. The screening will be open to all students, and the Renegades are strongly encouraging Columbia athletes to attend.

“We want to see themes that are common in sports stories, like the underdog story,” Manns said. “But we also want to see originality and a strong positive message.”

Following the screening, two prizes will be given: a $100 Judge’s Choice award and a $50 Audience Choice award.

“Other film festivals on campus, they don’t give you money. But we will give you money,” Frazier said.

For more information on the Renegades Athletic Film Festival or to download a PDF of the call for submissions form, visit the Renegades’ website at Colum.edu/Athletics or email the Renegades at Athletics@colum.edu.