Tallahassee Film Festival

Festival to be held April 15-19, 2009

Contact: April Salter Herrle
Phone: 850.681.3200

Tallahassee, Fla. – The Tallahassee Film Festival (TFF) has announced the dates for the 2009 festival. After a highly successful first year, festival organizers have broadened the festival from its original 3-day offering to a full 5-day festival that will be held April 15-19, 2009 with added After Parties and an extended timeframe for the 24-Hour Film Festival.

The additional dates and other new offerings are made possible in large part due to the generosity of the festival sponsors who have already lined up to support the 2009 festival. Most importantly, the Florida Commerce Credit Union has announced it will once again be the presenting sponsor. A commitment from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and agreements from all of last year’s media sponsors also have shored up the festival.

“Florida Commerce Credit Union is proud to serve as the presenting sponsor for an event that builds the arts community in Tallahassee,” said Samantha Strickland, director of Marketing at Florida Commerce Credit Union. “We believe TFF has the potential to foster incredible growth in arts and entertainment and attract the best of the best filmmakers to this area.”

The inaugural year of the festival surpassed expectations. The Tallahassee Film Festival seeks to double its attendance in the coming year and screen even higher quality films from across the globe. In 2008, more than 2,600 people attended one or more film festival events and 65 films were shown. In addition to expanded dates, TFF will host a series of “After Parties” at clubs and restaurants throughout the Tallahassee area. Sunday night, April 19, the festival will conclude with a new “Best of Fest” screening that will give festival attendees a second chance to watch the award-winning films at local venues.

Filmmakers interested in entering the Tallahassee Film Festival should go to www.withoutabox.com to register. The Early Entry deadline is October 31 and already, more than 22 entries have been received from filmmakers as far away as Singapore, Bosnia, Afghanistan, New Zealand and Canada. There are several other entry deadlines coming up with the final call for entries deadline on January 2, 2009.

Tallahassee Film Festival president, Robert Howard, believes TFF has a unique advantage over other film festivals in the country because of its connections with Florida State University, Florida A&M University and Tallahassee Community College.

“These schools bring to the table resources that include quality venues to screen films and talented professors and students with film industry know-how,” said Howard. “We want our focus to remain on growing the educational components of the festival to include more workshops and lectures given by our own local film experts and others from around the country.”

Last year, the festival included a popular 24-Hour Film Contest held two weeks prior to the festival. More than 15 amateur and professional filmmakers created their own mini-movies within a one day timeframe, each on a limited budget of $100. Films were voted online by the public at Tallahsasee.com and by a professional panel of judges. In 2009, expect the new 48-Hour Film Contest to attract more teams throughout the area.

To learn more about the Tallahassee Film Festival, please visit www.tallahasseefilmfestival.com.

The Tallahassee Film Festival is an outgrowth of Tallahassee’s Knight Creative Communities Initiative, and a project of the THE INTERNATIONAL CREATIVITY CENTER, INC. a non-profit tax exempt organization.

By Mark Hinson
Tallahassee Democrat

The Tallahassee Film Festival, as they say in the movie biz, is about to bump up the running time.
The 2009 movie marathon will roll film for five days from April 15 to 19. Last year’s inaugural festival, which attracted more than 2,600 cinephiles to see 65 films, was three days long and held in mid-May.

“We moved it to April because that’s when the biggest student population is in town,” festival president Robert Howard said. “And we are all about education. It’s also when the legislators will be here, too. Maybe we can attract them to the festival.”

The all-volunteer festival is also increasing its international scope.

“We have 22 films so far and they’re from as far away as Singapore, Bosnia, Afghanistan, New Zealand and Canada,” Howard said. “We’re not passively waiting for films to come to us, we’re going out to find them.”
Budding Alfred Hitchcocks will also be happy to learn that the film festival is expanding its popular 24-Hour Film Contest to the 48-Hour Film Contest.

During last year’s competition, more than 15 teams of amateur and professional filmmakers signed on to write, act, shoot and edit a 5-minute movie in a 24-hour period. They were all given a common theme and a whopping $100 budget. The mini-movies turned out to be a popular draw when they were posted online for voting and viewing at Tallahassee.com.

“We wanted to make it a more leisurely enterprise this time around,” Howard joked.

Howard made the announcements during a reception for festival sponsors and volunteers at Chez Pierre on Monday evening. Guests at the gathering included Florida State Film School Dean Frank Patterson, independent film distributor Paul Cohen and Mayor John Marks.

By Mark Hinson
Tallahassee Democrat

Everyone can use a little more time, so The Tallahassee Film Festival is expanding its popular 24-Hour Film Contest to the 48-Hour Film Contest in the spring of 2009.

Officials from the Film Festival are expected to make that announcement and more later today during a special reception for volunteers and sponsors.

During the inaugural Tallahassee Film Festival in May, more than 15 teams of amateur and professional filmmakers signed on to write, act, shoot and edit a 5-minute movie in a 24-hour period. They were all given a common theme and a whopping $100 budget.

The mini-movies turned out to be a popular draw when they were posted online for voting and viewing at Tallahassee.com.

During the three-day fest in May, more 2,600 cinephiles turned out to watch 65 films, attend seminars, meet directors and talk movies.

For more about the 2009 Tallahassee Film Festival, return to this Web site — or pickup Tuesday’s Democrat.