As many are attempting to recover from six straight days of Mardi Gras festivities, a movie marathon may seem like the perfect option. Why waste the weekend withering away in bed with pizza and Netflix, however, when there will be a festival on campus to alter this lazy goal into an artsy and cultured endeavor?

Tulane University Broadcast Entertainment and Tulane University Campus Programming joined forces to create the official Tulane University Film and Art Festival. The free, three-day film fest, which will be held in the Woldenberg Art Center, kicks off at 6:00 p.m. Thursday and runs through Saturday.

Last year, the festival’s inaugural year, featured a host of short and feature-length films, many of which were produced by Tulane students and members of the New Orleans community. TUBE provides students with the resources necessary to bring their video vision to life. Inspiration for the festival began with a desire to share student work with a larger audience, but quickly grew into something much greater.

“We were helping these people make these films, and you know, we were putting them on YouTube and we had this community, but the general audience just wasn’t seeing them,” said Annie Heinrichs, creative director of TUFAF and general manager of TUBE. “And it was really frustrating, not only for the filmmakers, but for the students and staff, because we spent so much time trying to support these artists.”

What began as a way to gain exposure for the underrated short films expanded into multiple days of art, guest speakers, food and, of course, movies. This year, the festival will present three feature-length films and six short films, three of which were produced by Tulane students.

The first feature, “Reversing the Mississippi” will screen at 7 p.m. Thursday, followed by a talk with director Ian Midgley. The array of panelists and speakers taking part in the festival offers an opportunity for valuable insight into the minds of the filmmakers.

“I love talking to the artists who make these films because a lot of times, these things happen on shoestring budgets, and it’s two other people, and they didn’t even study film but they made this magical thing that just moves you,” Heinrich said.

Friday’s festivities involve a reception starting at 6 p.m. before “End Of the Tour,” the screening for the evening, begins. Saturday starts off with a showing of “Consequence,” which was also featured this past fall in the New Orleans Film Festival, a film directed by Tulane senior Jonathan Nguyen, the TUBE Technology and Equipment Manager. After “Consequence” comes a screening of short film “Can’t Stop the Water” with a subsequent question and answer session. At 3 p.m., the short-film showcase and panelist session will begin and, following that, a screening of “Tangerine,” the feature-film shot entirely by iPhone that recently took Netflix by storm.