1915-2010 ~ 95 Years of Production in the San Fernando Valley

Earlier this week, we asked our Twitter followers what they'd like us to blog about and they gave us some great suggestions. From iconic locations to industry hang outs, our fans are hungry for more about the fabulous San Fernando Valley and its contribution to "Hollywood".  And since we are a film festival, we've naturally decided to start with motion pictures produced or featuring The Valley.

Once we had our project, we took to Facebook and asked our fans what their favorite "Valley" film was. Unfortunately, we started off the post by stating we were partial to Valley Girl and Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and our post was mistaken for a poll. With all due respect, there was a shout out to Earth Girls are Easy.

After listening to our fans, we consulted with both Wikipedia and IMDB. Wikipedia confirmed the list we already knew: 2 Days in The Valley, Boogie Nights, Crash, Down in The Valley, E.T., Earth Girls are Easy, Encino Man, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Foxes, The Karate Kid, Magnolia and, of course, Valley Girl.

We were surprised that Wikipedia left off some obvious classics like Birth of a Nation, Casablanca, Chinatown, It's a Wonderful Life, and Terminator 2. We'll be sure to contribute to the page in the coming days and encourage you to add missing films, too.

What was more surprising were some of the titles on IMDB that list San Fernando Valley as a filming location:

• The 1939 Bette Davis tear jerker, Dark Victory, with Humphrey Bogart and Ronald Reagan. 
• John Ford's 1941 Academy Awarding winning The Grapes of Wrath.
• Classic Clint Eastwood circa 1978, Every Which Way But Loose.
• The Wim Wenders drama, Paris, Texas, starring Harry Dean Stanton from 1984. 
• Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush (1925) and The Great Dictator (1940) [We have our doubts about these, but who are we to say otherwise]

What we really liked seeing were some of the independent films that we've screened on this list too:

• VFF08: Night Visit directed by Kenneth Hall
• VFF08: So Long Jimmy directed by Brad Ragland
• VFF10: Motel San Fernando directed by Sergio Rodriguez

Over the last 11 years, we've screened  hundreds of films shot in "The Valley" so we know that there should be a lot more independent films included in this list...just take a look at the VFF archives. Filmmakers, listen up, update your IMDB listing to include the location.

VFF encourages you to take a look at both the Wikipedia and IMDB pages, contribute where you can, and chime in below to let us know which film(s) are your faves!