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