Support the Arts! TVIFF Offers Something for Everyone
With out pressure to please studio executives, these film makers can find an outlet to express their passion. They have a story to tell and anyone that feels passionate about their film will find a kindred spirit in a film festival. Like-minded people come together to honor their peers and acknowledge hidden talent. Film festivals offer small independent filmmakers a place to showcase their work. It is a place where they can display their movie for everyone to enjoy. There are also opportunities for a small film to be parlayed into a feature film, or picked up by a distributor and sold to millions of people.
Temecula Valley International Film and Music Festival is currently in its 16th year and this year's film submissions are just as interesting and thought provoking as any other previous year. The filmmakers have put their heart and soul on celluloid and it would be a shame to miss it. Having met some of the filmmakers personally, I can say that their passion and energy speaks volumes. One film to not miss is Prime of Your Life by Kelly King. His genuine love for film comes through when he speaks about his project.
Kelly said that "From this festival (last year) our director got picked up by the DGA, the film shortly after got distribution. The name was then changed to Shooting Star, and so I just fell in love with this festival wanted to come back."
When speaking about Prime of Your Life it was clear that Kelly was excited about his project. With animated passion Kelly told me about the places he has already taken his film. Kelly said that "We went and shot this film in Florida and we did some pick up days in New York. We had screened some film festivals in Florida and we had also screened in Cannes. Which was my first time going to that festival, it was huge! Screening at another festival that runs congruent to the the huge Film Du Cinema for ultra low budget indie movies. We won a few awards at the florida film festival. So I sent it (the film) in to the Temecula film festival and I was so happy to get in, I love the Temecula Festival."Kelly says his inspiration to starting directing came when he was watching the French cult hit "Amelie" and that was it; furthermore, growing up in Salt Lake City and being near the Sundance Film Festival. He was sold on directing. Kelly is also a writer and has a blog called incfilms.com where you can see his other projects.
Prime of your Life has already received Special Mention
at Gasparilla International Film Festival, Best feature film
2010 at Sunscreen Film festival, and Official Selection at Cannes and Sarasota Film Festivals. Prime of your Life is a quirky, heartfelt dramedy about becoming who you were always meant to be.
Another film to not miss is Another Life by festival newcomer Nathan Ruegger. I received an advanced copy of this film, and it was amazing. Even though it says that it is a student film, you wouldn't know that by just watching. Nathan pulls gritty and very real performances out of his actors. The lead, played by Tracy Coogan, is a gem with her understated and realistic performance. I have literally watched this three times now, it is one of the best independent short films that I have seen. The short of it is this: A young female veteran has three days to kill an innocent man or they both die. On the surface it seems easy enough, do what you need to survive; however, as the story progresses you feel pulled by the character and become engrossed in her life and motivations behind her actions.
In tackling this movie, Nathan had decided to interview local veteran's of the Iraq War for his research. Nathan says " I grew up in Los Angeles. When you think of LA, you think of sunshine and glitz and glamour. I saw a lot of people keeping all of their pent up dramas deep inside away from cameras and prying eyes. I found out that LA has the highest concentration of Iraq war veterans than any other city in the country. By talking to some veterans of their life experiences they would just blend in at a party or at Starbucks." Finding very powerful stories from the veterans moved Nathan to tell their story.
"I talked with this guy who was one of the first people to storm Fallujah and went through some of the nastiest battles in Iraq. Hurt Locker was just another day on the job for him. To see him blend in just like anyone else made me realize that there are stories of people walking the streets of LA who are dealing with some of the most amazing and terrifying experiences. How do they pick themselves up after that? So I try to tell an engaging and interesting crime thriller with a strong female character which is the stories I like to see. At the same time trying to paint a true to life portrait of what is it like to come back from Iraq."
Nathan is hoping to have this short film turned into a feature length film, and I believe the material is there and have no doubt this would make a fantastic full length movie. You can see this fantastic movie for yourself at the 3 p.m. showing on Sept. 17 and 19 at the Movie Experience at Tower Plaza in Temecula, CA, along with all the other submissions.
Temecula Valley International Film and Music Festival kicks off next Wednesday, Sept. 15th with a classic car parade, red carpet arrivals and a screening of the opening night film, St. Roz. The festival continues on for the next five days and then closes with a black tie award ceremony at Pechanga Hotel and Casino on Sunday night. This really is a great opportunity to support the arts and see some up and comers before they hit it big!
For more information about all the movies screening at TVIFF, you can visit their website. You can also buy tickets and get the movie schedule for all the films on their official website.
Hope to see you all there!
