Film Festival News

Reporting on film festivals

Lela Meadow-Conner, Film Festival Alliance Executive Director: Teaming with Full Spectrum Features to put together first Film Festival Leadership Lab

By John Wildman 6 years ago

“As the Alliance has quickly grown over the last few years, and serves as North America’s only professional affiliation for those who work within the film festival industry, we realized there was a need to cultivate our industry’s future leadership beyond our regular professional development activities.,” said Lela Meadow-Conner, FFA Executive Director. “We’ve been fortunate to engage with wonderful partners including Full Spectrum Features and Stephen Bárczay Sloan, Founder of the Humane Leadership Institute, to execute the program.” 

Director Marcelino Islas Hernández and actress Verónica Langer with CLASES DE HISTORIA join OUTstream Film Fest; shorts, episodics, and special panel to LGBTQIA+ virtual film festival

By John Wildman 6 years ago

OUTstream Film Fest Co-Founder and Co-Director Ben McCarthy, said, “We are very excited to give each of these filmmakers a dedicated platform to share their work with audiences. There is so much variety among the stories being told, the voices and cinematic vision on display, and yet – as with our OUTstream Film Fest features – there is a commonality, a shared experience, the demonstration of a connection we all have to one another that comes through the collective experience of seeing these films.”

Co-Founder and Co-Director Megan Garbayo, added, “Our sincere hope is that through the virtual reach of this film festival, regardless of whether or not you are sheltering in place in a city or you find yourself in a rural community, these films will be able to remind us all of what connects us.”

Skye McLennan promote to Festival Director of San Luis Obispo International Film Festival

By John Wildman 6 years ago

“I am so thrilled to announce Skye’s promotion and look forward to continue to work with her. She brings a wealth of festival experience, new ideas and a youthful perspective to our organization as we continue to add to the reputation we have earned across the country as an important regional festival,” said Eidson. “We all recognize how important it is to bring in people with enthusiasm and innovation to keep an organization fresh and relevant and she brings all of that and so much more to the table.”

Li Cheng’s drama JOSÈ featured with Oxford Film Festival teases Drive In plans along with 6th Weekly Fest roll out including Artist Vodka $15K film prize competition films

By John Wildman 6 years ago

“Artist Vodka continues to be such an important part of our film festival by lending a big financial hand to one of our filmmakers as they have in years past,” Oxford Film Festival Executive Director Melanie Addington said. “And now our audience members can take a real active part in deciding whose name will go on that big check. It adds a rooting interest to the entertainment each one of these three programs delivers in a major way. I can’t wait to see who is going to win that prize.”

Theodore Collatos and Carolina Monnerat’s QUEEN OF LAPA featured at Oxford Film Festival’s 5th Weekly Virtual Fest is topped by docs, films focusing on the black experience, and experimental film

By John Wildman 6 years ago

“Our audiences have become accustomed to the Oxford Film Festival bringing the world to them via the documentary films we program,” Executive Director Melanie Addington said. “QUEEN OF LAPA and LIFE IN SYNCHRO are vastly different films, but share that sense of discovery, whether it be a transgender sex workers community in Brazil or the amazing women that make synchronized skating a sport that will surprise and excite you. It’s also exciting to give a platform to the filmmakers and stories delving into the black experience in Mississippi, Memphis and this country through our Black Lens Narrative shorts program and the expected, yet unexpected cinematic visions our Fest Forward programs always deliver.”

Michael Barnett’s CHANGING THE GAME Opens OUTstream Film Fest rolls out initial lineup of films for debut of virtual LGBTQIA+ film fest

By John Wildman 6 years ago

OUTstream Film Fest Co-Founder and Co-Director Ben McCarthy, said, “We are thrilled to announce these first 11 films, which come to us from all over the world, to bring people together all across the country, of any sexual identity, to be entertained, touched, enlightened, and affected – as one. While we can not be in a theatre together yet, we can still connect virtually through the shared experience of watching a film and then experiencing and participating remotely in a Q&A with the filmmakers, actors, and/or subjects of the films. The virtual film festival allows us to bring a wider cross section of people from greater distances all together via this shared event; in some ways, in a more substantial way than is available with a physical event.”

Congcong Teng’s SEND ME TO THE CLOUDS and Oliver Siu Kuen Chan’s STILL HUMAN: CineCina Film Festival rolls out first titles for Online Film Fest launching this week

By John Wildman 6 years ago

CineCina Film Festival Co-Director of Programming Frank Yan, said, “This initial group of films include nine features, and two shorts that offer a wonderful cross section of recent Chinese-language cinema releases. In the subsequent weeks we will offer more features and short films for our audiences as we continue to plan for the 2nd edition of our film festival this Fall, under the LOVE AND DUTY theme. That will include the announcement and presentation of our Project Horizon winners. In the meantime, we will celebrate film in New York, both with this virtual film festival and our Films on the Wall projections throughout the city.”

Angela Pinaglia’s LIFE IN SYNCHRO: Film Festival Alliance and Theatrical-At-Home bring Film Festival Day back for a sequel on May 23 with LIFE IN SYNCHRO

By John Wildman 6 years ago

“The results of our first Film Festival Day surpassed any of our expectations,” said Lela Meadow-Conner, Executive Director of Film Festival Alliance. “To witness the collective power of these community & filmmaker-driven festivals coming together in support of independent storytellers and audiences, embodies the spirit of our members’ organizations. Thus, the idea of doing a sequel seemed natural and LIFE IN SYNCHRO was a perfect film for us to feature. It’s a film that would have played the in-person festival circuit in 2020, and it represents the heart that independent filmmakers often infuse into their projects – exactly the type of storytelling that brings audiences to a film festival. The cherry on top is being able to support the filmmakers, as well.”

Christopher Wesley Moore’s, A STRANGER AMONG THE LIVING: Oxford Film Festival’s 4th Weekly Virtual Fest delivers the horror, a silly superhero, LGBTQIA+ stories and panels for filmmakers

By John Wildman 6 years ago

“Ghostly scares, silly superheroes, LGBTQIA+ stories, Americana, animation and experimental cinema is all on tap this week,” Executive Director Melanie Addington said. “This week will be a fun, adventurous slate of programming for our audiences, as well as having a great pair of panels and presentations courtesy of Seed&Spark for truly valuable information on crowdfunding and distribution for filmmakers to soak up, and then a chance to seriously look at the reality of getting our filmmakers back on the set here in Mississippi the following day.”