Iowa State’s first annual independent film festival will be making its debut on Sunday at 1 p.m. in the Memorial Union.

Seven teams have entered in the REEL ISU Independent Film Festival, a competition in which filmmakers have the opportunity to win $100 and have their film judged by a Los Angeles writer and director Andew Robinson.

The top five films will also be shown in the Memorial Union on Sunday.

Robinson will come speak about his experiences in the film industry on Saturday — the day before the festival. Robinson is currently promoting his recently released film, “April Showers,” his retelling of what it was like to be a student who survived the Columbine shootings.

Aaron Hewitt, a freshman in art and design, is one of this year’s independent contenders. “I originally planned to show it in the Res Hall film festival, but didn’t have it finished in time. After I showed a clip of it there, a friend of mine told me about this competition,” he said. His movie, “Superhero,” is the tale about Super Travis, a college student who believes he has super powers after suffering from a fatal electrical shock.

Hewitt said he has been writing, directing, editing, and producing his own films as a hobby for three years. His first film — a horror spoof — won in both a high school and a statewide competition. His movie, “Nights in the High School” was about a janitor in a high school who goes insane and kidnaps some of the students & ends up killing one of them.

In addition to Robinson, PRSSA will have a member of their organization, an Ames Tribune movie reviewer, Steve Sullivan, and member of the Student Union Board judge the ten submissions to determine which five will make it to the finals on Sunday. The winner will be awarded $100, and the second and third runners-up will receive $25.

Originally, when the PRSSA organization met to talk about ways to get noticed on campus and to raise more money for the group, they thought about possibly doing a battle of the bands competition, but because the event is running so close to Veishea, they decided to try something different.

“It’s been really quick planning. We started to lay the groundwork for it at the end of February,” said PRSSA fundraising director Tyler Neuschwanger, senior in journalism and mass communication. Neuschwanger directed the PRSSA event, with the help of the Student Union Board and the Committee on Lectures.

PRSSA member Silas Pippitt, junior in journalism and mass communication said, “I tried to help out a lot, and stay involved with the program.” “If you’re interested in a film career this is a good way to get your name out in the future. [It’s a] great way to get some experience.”

Neuschwanger said, “Working with Andrew [Robinson] was my favorite part of the whole process. It was really interesting.”