Sunday, March 29, 2009

PSIFS wins Best of the Valley!

The Palm Springs International Film Festival won FIRST PLACE as Best Annual Event in Desert Magazine's Best of the Valley contest!

The Palm Springs International ShortFest won Fourth Place!

Friday, March 27, 2009

Catching up with shortfilmmakers

Want proof that filmmakers at June's ShortFest are ones to watch?

IndieWire just posted an article about "Ten Exciting New Voices in Black Cinema," and SEVEN of those have graced Palm Springs:

Julian Breece - 2008 ShortFest, "The Young & Evil"
"...An audacious film drawing attention to the rise of HIV/AIDS infection among young, gay African-Americans."

Rashaad Ernesto Green - 2008 ShortFest, "Premature"
"While the mainstream press enthusiastically identifies Tyler Perry as the new voice of black cinema, industry insiders looking for the next Spike Lee are placing their bets on a young NYU student named Rashaad Ernesto Green."

Khary Jones - 2008 ShortFest, "Hug"
"...One of ten 2009 Sundance Film Festival official selections chosen to screen for free on iTunes during the festival."

Moon Molson - 2007 ShortFest Panavision Grand Jury Award winner, "Pop Foul"
"Molson was named one of Filmmaker Magazine's 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2007."

Roberta Marie Munroe - 2008 ShortFest, "Happy Birthday"
"Named one of Powerup's '10 Amazing Gay Women in Hollywood' and GONYC's '100 Women We Love.' "

Osbert Parker - 2006 ShortFest, "Film Noir" & 2007 ShortFest, "Yours Truly"
"With Hollywood already courting him to do feature work, Parker is poised to lead his own British invasion."

Dee Rees - 2008 ShortFest Future Filmmaker Award winner & Best Student Live Action Over 15 Minutes award winner, "Pariah"
"She recently wrapped post-production on Eventual Salvation, her feature documentary on Liberia."

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

PSIFS screening: American Violet

Dee Roberts (newcomer Nicole Beharie) is a young single mother of four in a small Texas town who is barely making ends meet. When a powerful local district attorney (Michael O'Keefe) leads an extensive drug bust, he sweeps her housing project and charges Dee as a drug dealer. She is forced to plead guilty and go home as a convicted felon or remain in prison and fight the charges.

American Violet was the PSIFS March member screening.
What did you think?

• Read about the woman who inspired the film, Regina Kelly.
• Learn more about fair sentencing and the war on drugs at the film's Web site.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Get yer Cin-E-File!

The latest Cin-E-File has hit the presses!

Read all about it:

• the ShortFest date change to June
• the new Behind the Scenes filmmaker series at Rancho Mirage Public Library (starting with screenwriter John August on April 14!)
• more info on upcoming member screenings

Good film, ready to eat!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Member dish

New year, new films, new(ish) guidelines.

Members can dish it out here!