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Sacramento Film and Music Festival

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The Sacramento Film and Music Festival (SF&MF) is a large, multi-day, all-genre international film festival held in Sacramento, California in the United States. It has been in operation under consistent direction and ownership since 2000. The festival's mission is to celebrate and showcase filmmaking from around the world and sponsor the art of film in California's Capital region.

David Garibaldi paints a portrait of Michael Jackson at the 11th Annual Sacramento Film & Music Festival

For the 2011 season, the Festival's 12th, the event has been divided into two parts with the WinterFEST January 15th-17th and the SummerFEST August 18th-21st. The WinterFEST dates coincide with the Martin Luther King holiday weekend and in addition to the usual diverse range of film programming, the program includes a lineup of documentaries with themes of politics, peace, and social justice including "Sowing the Seeds of Justice" about the life and legal career of Cruz Reynoso.

The 2010 Festival dates are July 23rd - August 1st, opening with the feature documentary "Official Rejection" about the difficulties of getting films into film festivals. In a special program on July 29th, the 2010 Festival included the world premiere of "Walking Dreams" a documentary about the work of artist David Garibaldi, followed by a live performance of his work and a charity auction. In a performance of career significance, and in front of 600 attendees, David painted his first large format self-portrait. The five paintings created during the evening were sold, immediately following the performance, with the proceeds benefiting both the Festival and the Friends of the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission.

The 2009 Festival ran July 24th - Sunday, August 2nd. The 10th Annual Sacramento Film and Music Festival opened with a premiere screening of the independent feature, "Sensored" starring Robert Picardo and shot entirely on the Red One ultra-high definition digital camera.

The Festival kicked off 2009 with a Sac Music Seen New Year's Eve at the Crest Theatre with live music from The Dirty Feet and Autumn Sky, selected local music videos from the Festival's own music video production program and a program of short films. [1]

The 2008 Festival dates were Friday, August 8th - Sunday, August 17th. The 2008 Festival included 17 feature films, over 100 short films and video projects, 8 musical acts, two industry presentations, a pitch session, 30 ticketed events and the presentation of 25 awards. In a Gold Circle Series Screening, the Sacramento Film and Music Festival hosted the West Coast Premiere of UNCOUNTED: The New Math of American Elections. Filmmaker David Earnhardt was joined by radio host Peter B. Collins and political commentator Brad Friedman for a discussion regarding the film's topics of voting integrity and election fraud.

In 2007, the eighth annual Sacramento Film and Music Festival welcomed special guests Larry Meistrich, principle of NEHST Studios and producer of such movies as the Academy Award winning Sling Blade and You Can Count On Me; Mike DiManno and Scott Reid, CEO and President respectively of Redwood Palms Pictures; and writer/director Joe Carnahan. During the 2007 Festival, 99 films were screened in competition, plus 5 short movies produced for The Sacramento Bee. In an eight-hour marathon pitch session, Larry Meistrich met with filmmakers and prospective filmmakers, directly resulting in four development deals.

In 2007, the Festival added the marquee sponsor Sactown Magazine, in a relationship that lasted three seasons.

In 2006, the seventh annual SF&MF featured over 90 film and video projects and 4 live bands over five days, including the special programs Sac Music Seen (a local music video production program), the 10x10 Filmmaker Challenge (a 10-day filmmaking program), and Student Days (a student film festival within the larger event).[2] The Sac Music Seen program was supported by a grant from the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission in recognition of its contributions to the arts community and support of both local musicians and filmmakers.[citation needed] SFMF was voted Sacramento's "Best Film Festival" by readers of the Sacramento News and Review.[3]

In 2004, in its fifth year, SF&MF was recognized by both Sacramento's Mayor Heather Fargo and California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for its achievements and contributions to the community.[4] [5]

Submissions and Programming

The Sacramento Film and Music Festival is submission-based and highly selective, accepting films in all genres and of all lengths, from anywhere in the world. Programs are determined based on the nature of submissions received and the opinions of the screening committee. A separate film jury determines award winners, in addition to the audience awards.

Sac Music Seen

The Sac Music Seen program pairs local musicians and bands with local filmmakers to produce original music videos. While the larger Festival also accepts music videos for general programming, Sac Music Seen is a unique program in the local arts community and, as such, has been recognized and supported by such entities as the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission and the Sacramento Bee. In the first seven years of the program's existence 2004-2010), it produced approximately 150 original music videos.

10x10 Filmmaker Challenge

In another unique SF&MF program, the 10x10 filmmakers are given 10 days to make a movie of no more than 10 minutes on a given theme. The program started as a midnight screening experiment in 2004 with seven films on the topic of "the Undead and the Seven Deadly Sins". Up to 2009, approximately 70 originals projects have been completed and screened and this program has become the closing event of the Festival.

Sony Creative Software Student Days

Added to the Festival in 2006, Student Days is a series of programming periods exclusively intended to showcase the works of student filmmakers and is an opportunity to support the work of these gifted individuals. The first Student Days program featured 20 projects over 2 afternoons and included works from the American Film Institute, Chapman University, Columbia College Chicago, New York University, Pasadena's Art Center College of Design, the University of California Los Angeles, the University of Central Florida, and the University of Southern California. The event was renamed Sony Creative Software Student Days prior to the 2007 Festival, in recognition of generous support by the creators of the Vegas, Acid, Sound Forge, and Cinescore family of editing products.

The Sacramento Alliance of Film Festivals

The Sacramento Film and Music Festival is a member of the Sacramento Alliance of Film Festivals, along with the following partner events:

References

  1. ^ Ritner, Anita, "Before the ball drops...pick up on some culture", Sacramento Bee's 21Q Entertainment Blog, December 31st, 2008
  2. ^ Dunn, Edward, "The Sacramento Film and Music Festival", Sacramento News and Review, July 27, 2006.
  3. ^ Sacramento News and Review listing "Best Film Festival", 2006.
  4. ^ Mayor Fargo's letter at sacfilm.com
  5. ^ Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's letter at sacfilm.com
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