Insect Fear Film Festival to feature buggy movies and ‘ant’ics at U of I

Simmy Wood
·1 min read

URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) — The 41st Annual Insect Fear Film Festival (IFFF) will be held on Saturday at Foellinger Auditorium on the University of Illinois campus. This year’s theme is “Ant-Men,” spotlighting movies of people shrinking down to the size of ants and participating in their societies.

The free event is open to the public and hosted by the Entomology Graduate Students Association in the Department of Entomology. This year’s festival pays tribute to the social insects that are ants, and how they may parallel human lives as they work together to carry objects, build colonies, and even fight amongst themselves.

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This year’s ant-themed movies are:

  • “The Ant Bully” (2006)

    • An ant colony shrinks a 10-year-old boy down to their size to teach him a lesson after he terrorizes them.

  • Ant-Man (2015)

    • An eccentric physicist recruits a professional burglar to use his unique size-changing technology to become a small-but-mighty superhero who can communicate with ants.

Activities will begin at 5:30 p.m. They include a living ant display, an insect petting zoo, insect arts and crafts, a “bugscope” to get closer look at ants and other insects, and the annual IFFF art contest gallery, featuring insect-themed artwork by local K-12 students.

Film introductions will start at 7:30 p.m. For the full event schedule and more, visit the IFFF website, Facebook page, or follow the IFFF on X.

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