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Toronto International Film Festival Salutes Hollywood and Independent Films
Now that the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival is over it is time to take a look at some of the independent films that won significant awards and bathed in the spotlight of publicity. As usual there were a lot of movies with big Hollywood stars and big film production budgets attached to them that received a lot of publicity. But there were also a few smaller independent films that managed to win some awards at one of the big three film festivals of the world.
The Toronto International Film Festival is considered by mainstream Hollywood film industry people to be a jumping off point for the long, arduous awards season that eventually ends with the biggest film festival of them all, the Academy Awards. Many big studios and stars disguised as independent filmmakers enter their movies at Toronto to get publicity early in the season in hopes that an Oscar buzz will be created about the film and the stars attached. Read the rest of this entry »
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The Twin Rivers Media Festival is Not Your Typical Film Festival
The Twin Rivers Media Festival is the first weekend in May every year in Asheville, NC. All proceeds from the festival, after promotional and other expenses, go back to the film makers and media artists. Next year is Twin Rivers Media Festival’s 15th season.
The festivals judges begin selecting films in March and April and continue right through the festival’s official dates, during the first weekend in May, where the finalists are screened in two hour intervals throughout the weekend. The independent media festival typically draws around 150 viewers at each screening or so, for a total of over a thousand or so visitors overall. “The Twin Rivers audience really appreciates the media arts, and this festival gives them a chance to see stuff that might not otherwise be available. We get entries from all across Europe and Asia, as well as all over the Americas, and it’s some of the best in the world,” says Carlos Steward, the festivals founder and driving force. Read the rest of this entry »
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The Top 3 American Film Festivals
Film festivals. Everybody knows of them. Every cinephile keeps up with them and at some point dreams of attending one of the bigger ones. Film festivals give us movie lovers our first exposure to the movies that will take over our theaters over the coming year. The bigger film festivals are to movies what E3 and TGS and such are to video games. They’re the events that the hardcore fans impatiently await every year to get the first glimpse at what will surely be the coming year’s biggest movies. On top of that, film festivals gives independent filmmakers a chance to reach a wider audience. Allowing the art of cinema to expand and the filmmaker’s work to be appreciated. That being said, here are what I feel to be the top three film festivals in the United States.
1. Sundance Film Festival
Sundance. This is THE premiere festival for independent films. This is the big boy that all filmmakers try to get their work into. Sundance, founded in 1978, is the biggest showcase there is for independent films. As such, many of the greater filmmakers got their big break by premiering at Sundance. Some of these directors include Quentin Tarantino, Darren Aronofsky, Kevin Smith, Paul Anderson and many more. Likewise, the festival premieres independent movies every year bringing them to a wider audience, and has resulted in bringing some of the biggest independent films to moviegoers attentions. Films such as Clerks, Saw, Reservoir Dogs, Precious, Moon, Little Miss Sunshine and the list goes on and on. The festival has grown to huge proportions, becoming something of a Hollywood extravaganza. Despite this, the Festival still does it’s part to cater to and help smaller filmmakers every year. If I had but one film festival I could ever attend, Sundance would be that one. Read the rest of this entry »
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