Silver City's Second Annual Film Festival

Learn more at www.silvercityfilmfest.com

Organizers of the Silver City Short Film Festival predict this year's film festival will be bigger and better than last year's successful event. The 2007 festival has been expanded to three days and will be held September 21 - 23, 2007 with events at The Fine Arts Center Theatre of Western New Mexico Univerisity and Gallery 400.

In addition to screenings of submitted films and an Awards Ceremony Saturday night, there will be presentations and talks by some of the top guns in New Mexico's rapidly growing film industry. Featured speakers include: Frank Zuniga, Ralph Bakshi, Larry Stouffer, and Richard Stevens.

In addition, special categories were created this year for Animation and for filmmakers 18 and under. The Animation and Junior Filmmaker entries will be screened on Saturday afternoon of the Festival from 12:30-1:30 at WNMU.

For more information email: info@silvercityfilmfest.com or write to P.O. Box 1584, Silver City, NM 88062. Tickets can be purchased at the door of any event or screening or at the Curious Kumquat, 111 East College Street in Silver City. Tickets or festival passes can also be reserved in advance by email.

For more information email info@silvercityfilmfest.com or write to P.O. Box 1584, Silver City, NM 88062. Tickets can be purchased at the door, at the Curious Kumquat, or reserved by email.

More about the Festival:
Arts and cultural offerings such as film festivals have been shown to increase a communities' quality of life. Silver City's second annual film festival is expected to make a significant impact on the local economy. Visitors who attend performances and workshops on different aspects of the film industry add to this economic activity through their spending on such things as dining, shopping and lodging. This festival can act like a magnet, drawing hundreds of attendees who will spend thousands of dollars eating in restaurants, staying in hotels and motels, buying gas and shopping locally.

Organizers say the film event will bring dollars to the local economy and recognition to Silver City and all of southwest New Mexico. Silver City is on its way to being seen as a force to reckon with in New Mexico's burgeoning film industry. This festival will help Silver City generate revenue from tourists, filmmakers and media sent to cover the event.

Filmfest staff say the event contributes to a healthy arts community, which is an asset for economic development and it helps attract an educated, creative work force that local communities, businesses and the state of New Mexico are promoting.

This year's film event opens up a entry category for kids under 18. Student filmmakers are encouraged to participate. The film competition is focused on empowering kids and giving them a chance to be exposed to the wonderful world of filmmaking.

The filmfest will be televised locally on Community Access Television of Silver City (CATS).

The festival has a five-year plan to eventually evolve into an international film event right here in Silver City.

All the advantages and benefits of bringing a film festival to Silver City can be summed up in one sentence: Film Festivals are good business, fun, educational, and they keep kids off the streets.

For more information email the Film Festival!

Festival Schedule:

FRIDAY Sept. 21st
6-9 p.m.
Opening Night Ceremony and Screenings at WNMU Fine Arts Center
9:30-11 p.m.
Opening Night Reception at Gallery 400 (open to public)
SATURDAY Sept. 22nd
11-noon
INDUSTRY DISCUSSION at Gallery 400
A FILMMAKER LOOKS BACK AND AHEAD
A discussion on filmmaking past, present, and future with industry veteran Frank Zuniga.
12:30-1:30
ANIMATION AND JUNIOR FILMMAKER SCREENINGS
AT WNMU Fine Arts Center
The Bakshi School of Animation will award a complimentary tuition to one film chosen from the combined Animation and Junior categories.
2:30-4 p.m.
PRESENTATION: at Gallery 400
Things I've Learned About Screenwriting That I Think You Should Know with Larry Stouffer
Discover what it takes to write a sellable script. Discover the thrill of writing visually and meaningfully. Larry's seminar will emphasize the look (the craft) and the feel (the art) of a screenplay. If that screenplay is just a gleam in your eye, a first draft, or you are struggling through your first re-write, you will leave this seminar experience with a better understanding of the world of screenwriting and what it takes to succeed in it. Have questions ready. Larry may have an answer or two.

The Screenwriting Conference in Santa Fe will award to one attendee of The Festival, a free tuition the three-and-a-half-day Screenwriting Symposium component of the annual screenwriting conference, to be held May 28 - 31, 2008.
4:30-5:30 p.m.
PRESENTATION at The WNMU Fine Arts Center Theatre
PHOTOGRAPHY: Digital or Otherwise [Master it and Become a Better Film Maker) with Richard Stevens
In this presentation Richard will impart many of his Photo-Tips…
learn and practice them to become a better movie maker. He will screen examples of his work as well as the 16-minute film that won the New York Film Festival and led to his working on the motion picture Top Gun's aerial sequences.
7- 10 p.m.
AWARD CEREMONY AND FINAL SCREENINGS
(WINNING FILMS WILL BE SHOWN)
At WNMU Fine Arts Center Theatre
SUNDAY Sept. 23rd
Additional Screenings
at The Webb Theatre of WNMU (next to The Fine Arts Center Theatre
2-3 p.m. R rated films (no one under 18 will be admitted)
3-5 p.m. Additional Screenings and rescreens of festival favorites

About the Festival Guest Speakers

FRANK ZUNIGA
is a veteran Writer-Producer-Director whose industry experience spans more than forty years. He was Director of the New Mexico Film Office, a senior consultant on the development of the Sandoval County Media Cluster, and the Artistic Director of the Roy E. Disney Performing Arts Center at the National Hispanic Cultural Center.

Early in his career, Zúñiga served as an assistant director for Francis Ford Coppola, furthering his skills as a cameraman. He later became Director of Photography on a number of television shows and in 1967 Roy E. Disney offered Frank his first directing assignment on THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY. At the Disney Studios, Zúñiga produced and/or directed 26 hours of television which included; THE OWL THAT DIDN?T GIVE A HOOT, VARDA, THE PEREGRINE FALCON, MUSTANG and BARRY OF THE GREAT ST. BERNARDS. He also was the Director of Photography on all of the film exhibits in the MEXICO PAVILLION at DISNEY WORLD.

In 1979, Frank directed his first feature film, THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE WILDERNESS FAMILY, and went on to direct HEARTBREAKER with Fernando Allende, THE GOLDEN SEAL plus FISTFIGHTER, shot in Mexico City, and starring Jorge Rivero, Edward Albert and Mike Connors.

Frank served as Dean of Media Arts at Columbia College-Hollywood (CCH) and in 1995 established the BROADCASTING COLLEGE OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA for KATV (Korean American Television). He was the National Chair for the National Hispanic Media Coalition from 2004 to 2006 and has served on the Board of Directors the Independent Features Project/West and as the Charter President for the Hispanic Academy of Media Arts and Sciences.

Mr. Zúñiga's awards include the American Indian Film Festival's BEST PICTURE and BEST DIRECTION awards for THE GOLDEN SEAL, the NOSOTROS GOLDEN EAGLE AWARD for Excellence in Film Direction and the Hollywood Film Advisory Board's Award of Excellence. In 1985 and 1986 he was selected as one of the 100 most Influential Hispanics in the United States by Hispanic Business magazine.

LARRY STOUFFER
Since founding SCSFe in 1999, Larry Stouffer has become a quarter-finalist, semi-finalist and finalist in a number of screenwriting competitions. He most recently hit the big screen as co-writer and Associate Producer for the dramedy Junkyard Ghost (Lee Majors). The Council on International Nontheatrical Events awarded Larry a Cine Golden Eagle for his documentary Where Do The Children Play? In addition he directed George Kennedy in Justice and the Art of Gentle Outrage, John Forsythe in Would We Not Long For the Fair? and Henry Fonda in the award-winning The Big Yellow Schooner To Byzantium.

Larry's screenplay, "Rising Star" is in the seeking funding stage and another project of his in the works is the remake of his cult-classic, Horror High. Lastly, a co-writing project,"Dance Magic," is slated for 2007.

RICHARD T. STEVENS
has been an independent filmmaker and DGA Director for over 30 years. He lives in New Mexico.