The Big Muddy Film Festival, based at Southern Illinois University Carbondale has become one of the best-respected, wholly independent, community-focused film festivals. Founded by Mike Covell in 1978, Big Muddy is among the oldest student-organized film festivals in the United States. Covell believes the festival’s core of showing quality and important work of independent filmmakers is crucial. He also once said that one of the festival’s goals “is to honor individual voices and balance the realms of beautiful artistic endeavor as well as those that are politically oriented.”