Countdown to VFF10...T-Minus 42 Days

Wasn't it just 100 days 'til opening night a few short weeks ago? Oy! Our publicists are going to kill us.

We are extremely pleased to announce our 10th annual showcase of outstanding short films from across The Valley and around the globe! It was really important to us to include as many alumni filmmakers from over the years as possible, so you'll see some familiar names. And, we wanted to continue our global outreach by programming as many foreign films as time permitted, because you may never get to see these works of art again.

Drum roll please. Ta-da!

The Valley Film Festival 2010 Shorts Programs

VFF's Signature Program

 Made in the (818):

• By a Hair - Michael Barton (VFF07, The Eyes of a Panther)
• Deceivers - Michael Halper (VFF09, The Last Tenant)
• The Disappearing Girl Trick - David Willis
• Drain Desert Tanner - Shant Hamassian
• Fool's Gold - Trip Hope (VFF09, Forgotten)
• Hurricane Fist - Toy Lei
• Motel San Fernando - Preston Northrup
• Will Train Right Person - Denise Dougherty
• 500 Days of Zankou - Beth Einhorn (VFF07, A 3 1/2 Foot Perspective; VFF09, Simple Roasted Chicken)

Comedy Shorts:

• BBQ - Alex Berger
• Big H Story - Sebastien Rossi
• A Day in the Life of a Pint - Robbie Walsh
• Manual Practico del Amigo - Ciros Altabas
• Jesus Comes to Town - Kamal John Iskander
• Killing Tarantino - Norman Lesperance
• Lying Next to Larry - Justin Franklin
• The Monster's Lament - Ron Rogge (VFF07, The Haunting of Seaside)
• Proque Hay Cosas Que Nunca - Lucas Figueroa
• Role Play - Rob Shearer

Documentary Shorts:

• Astronaut Pam - Renee Sotile & Mary Jo Godges (VFF06, Christa McAuliffe, Reach for the Stars)
• Found: Nothing Missing - Patricia McInroy
• The Making of The Nukes - Val Tasso (VFF08, Death by Boxer)
• Pytanie - Jan Wilkiewicz

Dramatic Shorts:

• After Life - Mateo Trujilio-Hobbs
• Fragile - Andrea Lodovichetti (VFF09, Sotto Il Mio Giardino)
• Goofyfoot - Chris Cashman (VFF07, Carts)
• Gone but not Forgotten - Sam McCarthy
• Little World - Angleo D'Agostino
• The Predator's Return - Jerald Alan

"Girls on Film" Shorts:

• Berefet Left - Gina Ronhovde
• Beyond Words - Jane Clark
• By the Numbers - Ashley Cozine
• Deaf Perception - Karlina Lyons
• Love Unconditional - Jenn Page
• Mere Image - Hanna Cowley
• Now or Never - Summer Sinclair
• This is Fun - Natalia Mateo
• Wayward Angel - Lorraine Portman (VFF05, Saving Sophie)

Juried Competition

"10' Hotter" Shorts:

• 52 Takes of the Same Thing, Then Boobs - T. Arthur Cottam (VFF04, Pornographic Apathetic)
• E-Pigs - Ales Pavln
• The Flower - Haik Hoisington
• Love Me Tender - Matthew Morgenthaler
• Micky Bader - Frida Kempff
• One Step Forward, Two Steps Back - Heather Goddard
• La Revelation - Vincent Diderot
• Sudden Death - Melanie Hall

We'll blog about each program in depth and provide you with more information on the individual films & the filmmakers behind them.  Even though our website is constantly being updated, check back here every day for the latest on all things VFF10!

*******

The 10th Annual Valley Film Festival takes place November 11-14, 2010 in the fabulous San Fernando Valley. Join us!

Thursday, November 11, 2010

El Portal Theatre: 5269 Lankershim Blvd *NoHo Arts District

Friday, November 12-Sunday, November 14, 2010

CAP Theatre: 13752 Ventura Blvd.*Sherman Oaks

Pizza & Post: What's New in Cinema 4D Release 12?

Join our friends at Video Symphony for another Pizza & Post event with Maxon Cinema 4D

Cinema 4D will go over all the new features in the latest edition of this acclaimed 3D Animation software. Check out a quick demo of C4D12 here! Also, Cinema 4D will be giving away one copy of Cinema 4D Release 12 Broadcast Edition to a lucky winner!

For those who aren't in the know, Video Symphony is the industry's leader in Post Production education. They provide professional quality training in Film & Video Editing, Motion Graphics, and Audio Engineering. You can find them on Twitter @VideoSymphony and @PizzaAndPost. They also happen to be pretty cool people! 

Please support the organizations that support The Valley Film Festival. Did we mention that Pizza & Post is FREE? Now we have.

 

Details & RSVP

Tuesday, September 28 (7-9pm)
Video Symphony
266 E. Magnolia Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91502

Reefer Movie Madness: The Ultimate Stoner Film Guide - Book Release Party

Oh, the joy of Twitter. We tweet. We follow. We RT. And suddenly we've met someone new in the (818) who has invited @ValleyFilmFest (& filmmakers & friends) to a party in the (323)!

That's right, we're all invited to the Reefer Movie Madness book release party, plus special screening of Dark Side of the Rainbow by @StonerFilmGuide

Reefer Movie Madness, from authors Shirley Halperin (@ShirleyHalperin) and Steve Bloom is the highly anticipated sequel to @PotCulture and comes out October 2010.

Amazon's editorial description reads:

Reefer Movie Madness is the perfect follow-up to Halperin and Bloom’s big-selling Pot Culture. It’s the most extensive guide ever to movies for the stoner audience, a real market that has proven its mass appeal with the successful Harold and Kumar franchise and the Judd Apatow library (Pineapple Express, Superbad).

In addition to entries on more than 420 films, there are contributions from well known actors, movie directors, musicians, and celebrities, including Jason Mraz, comedian Andy Milonakis, Snoop Dogg, Doug Benson, and Cheech & Chong. Reefer Movie Madness covers it all, from pot-fueled comedies and druggy dramas to sci-fi flicks and 1960s artifacts to documentaries, musicals, and blockbusters. With its colorful, easy-to-follow format and lots of eye-grabbing photos, sidebars (“Real Pot or Not? An On-Set Exposé”), lists (“DIY Inventions by Clever Movie Stoners”), and Q&As, Reefer Movie Madness is the guide­book that bong-hitting movie buffs have been longing for. 

Friday, October 1, 2010 (7-10pm)

Space 15 Twenty

1520 N. Cahuenga Blvd.

Hollywood, CA 90028

RSVP a MUST: reefermoviemadness@gmail.com

Countdown to VFF10...T-Minus 50 Days

Paid for Pain

Wow. We're down to 50 days. That's just over a month.

We were hoping to have our program announced by 9/15, but a week later isn't too bad, right? Without further ado, here's a preview of the 10th Annual Valley Film Festival feature film selections: 

Documentary Features

• Butterflies: Documentary about YouTube
• Home from the War: The Voices of Vietnam
• Paid for Pain: The Making of a Bondage Video
  

Narrative Features

• Boiler Maker
• The Commune
• Driver's Ed Mutiny
• Pickin' & Grinnin'

We're still waiting for confirmations from short filmmakers, so we'll be unveiling those shortly. Stay tuned!

******

Join us November 11-14, 2010 in the fabulous San Fernando Valley!

Thursday, November 11, 2010

El Portal Theatre: 5269 Lankershim Blvd *NoHo Arts District

Friday, November 12-Sunday, November 14, 2010

CAP Theatre: 13752 Ventura Blvd.*Sherman Oaks

Focus On: Networking (VFF & Dances With Films Mixer)

It's T-Minus 54 days to VFF10 and we're 3 days behind schedule, but that's not going to stop us from hanging out with our friends at Dances With Films! 

If you're sensing a trend here, you're right. VFF & DWF have merged our monthly mixers. As an FYI, they're the 3rd Tuesday of the month and will alternate between The Valley, Hollywood, and West Side. 

Last month we closed down The Hudson LA (WeHo) & this month, we're going to rock The Smokehouse across from Warner Bros. Join us! 

Tuesday, September 21 (7-10pm)

The Smokehouse

4420 West Lakeside Drive

Burbank, CA 91505

RSVP on our Facebook page or just show up! We'll be in the bar area.

Republic Pictures vs. French New Wave

Andre Bazin

Earlier this year, our fearless founder, Tracey, had the opportunity to meet icon Jean-Paul Belmondo at the L.A. Film Critics awards, and the seed for our 10th Anniversary theme was planted...50 years of French New Wave. Our desire to embody 1960's cool was reinforced by our move to our new venue, CAP Theatre, which already had its own 60's vibe. With Jean-Luc Godard scheduled to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy next year, and the passing of New Wave director Claude Chabrol, one would think we were in sync with the cinematic universe. 

Le sigh.

Herbert Yates

2010 also happens to be the 75th Anniversary of Republic Pictures, an independent film production company, distributor, and studio in the heart of The Valley: Studio City! The studio closed its production unit in 1959, but its facilities are still in use today as the CBS Radford Studios. OK, so Republic was known for B-movies and westerns, but they did launch the careers of John Wayne, Roy Rogers, and Gene Autry to name a few.

Herein lies our dilemma: Build on the idea we've had for 6+ months, or switch gears to honor a true local legend?

Chime in and let us know what you think.

Countdown to VFF10...T-Minus 62 Days

Our audience is waiting

62 days? Say it isn't so?!

If you've been following our Tweets, or reading our blog, you know we've been working overtime trying to get every submission watched & reviewed. In some cases, we've seen films 2 & 3 times already, and in the coming days, we'll be watching more films for a 3rd & 4th time. Our goal is to be programmed by September 15th. Or, rather, that is the goal our publicist's want us to meet. We may need a few extra days. 

This is really the hardest part of the festival.

While we love the art of putting the short film programs together, or pairing up a feature with a complementary short, it's really hard to eliminate a film. Sure there are films that are bad. Really bad. But, those submissions are few and far between, and that makes our job tough. 

In the end, it comes down to tiny things. Like, a film runs 12 minutes vs. 15, or the filmmaker lives in North Hollywood vs. Silver Lake, or it's a case of  VFF alumni vs. non-alumni. Just know that we are honored that you submitted to us, we take every submission seriously, and we really wish we could afford to be a two week festival to program everything!

The Valley Film Festival Indie Film Expo

EVS at VFF08's Local Vendors Day

When The Valley Film Festival was founded 10 years ago, a few of our goals included incorporating a film expo into the festival, along with a script contest, location services, a music component, etc. Aah, those were the idealistic, carefree days. Once the reality of producing the festival hit us, the accoutrements took a back seat.

Why launch a film expo when our fabulous supporter CineGear does it so well? Our friends at Shriek Fest had a handle on screenplay competitions, FilmLA is doing a great job providing location & permitting services, and Hear NoHo kicks ass with its monthly music festivals, so there was no need for us to venture into the unknown. 

That is, until now.

We are very excited to report that VFF is breaking ground and incorporating a mini film expo, focusing on local companies, into the 10th Annual Valley Film Festival. We sort of debuted this feature back in 2008 with our Local Vendors Day which included EVS, FotoKem, Sammy Sound, and Video Symphony.  In 2009, EVS and Video Symphony were joined by Electric Picture Solutions, FilmLook and Monkeyland Audio. The key word is "mini" as we'll have to limit participants to 10 or less, due to our space constraints.  The planning is still in its infancy, but we hope to officially announce the participants by October 1.  

If your company would like to get involved, contact Marci at: marci @ valleyfilmfest dot com