Sacramento Film and Music Festival

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The Sacramento Film and Music Festival (SFMF), presented by Sactown Magazine, is a large, multi-day, all-genre international film festival held annually 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 excellent filmmaking from around the world and to be a leading sponsor and facilitator of the art of film in California's Capital region.

The 2009 Festival dates are Friday, July 24th - Sunday, August 2nd. 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 Sac Music Seen music video production program, and a program of favorite short films. As co-sponsors of the first ever Sacramento New Year's ball drop event, the Crest and the Festival programmed the evening of entertainment to complement the outside festivities.

The 2008 Festival dates are Friday, August 8th - Sunday, August 17th. The 2008 Festival is also officially partnered with Sacramento's Friday Night Concerts in the Park series, featuring 56 bands and 15 weeks of free outdoor performances. The 2008 Festival includes 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 2008, 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. Whenever possible, the Festival helps filmmakers with further development and distribution opportunities.

In 2007, the Festival added the marquee sponsor Sactown Magazine.

In 2006, the seventh annual SFMF 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). 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. SFMF was voted Sacramento's "Best Film Festival" by readers of the Sacramento News and Review.

In 2004, in its fifth year, SFMF was recognized by both Sacramento's Mayor Heather Fargo and California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for its achievements and contributions to the community.

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 three years of the program's existence 2004-2006), it produced and screened 70 original music videos, some of which have gone on to be shown in various MTV markets and, for example, a 2006 music video directed by Sacramento filmmaker Erik Espera for the band "Warp 11" is currently distributed by Apple's iTunes service.

10x10 Filmmaker Challenge

In another unique SFMF 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". Since then a total of 34 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:

• A Place Called Sacramento - a screenwriting and filmmaking program of Access Sacramento
• The Sacramento Black Film Festival
• The Sacramento French Film Festival
• The Sacramento International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
• The Sacramento Jewish Film Festival

References

• Garza, Jennifer "Latest ripple in Pledge of Allegiance case: A documentary", Sacramento Bee, August 7, 2004.
• Reid, Dixie "It's no minor thing: City's sixth Film and Music Festival offers stellar lineup, extended run", Sacramento Bee August 14, 2005, (accessed online May 14, 2007)
• Kiefer, Jonathan "Think globally, screen locally - The Sacramento International Film and Music Festival nurtures homegrown talent with worldly inspiration", Sacramento News and Review, August 3, 2006.
• Kiefer, Jonathan "10 most wanted: A local to-do list for the blockbuster averse", Sacramento News and Review, May 10, 2007.
• "Where to eat, drink and play after dark", sactown magazine June/July, 2007.
• "City film fest gets boost from Sac State professor", Sacramento State News, July 19, 2007.
• Narloch, Chris "Holding Trevor comes to the Crest: Gay movie at Sac Film & Music Fest", Outword Magazine July 26-August 9, 2007.
• Kiefer, Jonathan "Film-fest field guide: Who goes and how to spot them", Sacramento News and Review, August 2, 2007.
• Meyer, Carla "GR8 expectation", Sacramento Bee August 6, 2007.
• Shallit, Bob "Hollywood on Highway 50" Sacramento Bee August 7, 2007.
• Kiefer, Jonathan Short review: UNCOUNTED Sacramento News and Review, January 10, 2008.
• Meyer, Carla "For 10 days, cinema fans can indulge in local film festival" Sacramento Bee August 3, 2008.
• Kiefer, Jonathan "Sacramento International Film & Music Festival" Sacramento News & Review August 7, 2008.
• "The Sacramento Film & Music Festival" Capitol Weekly August 7, 2008, pB7.

External links

• Official Website Sacramento Film and Music Festival (sacfilm.com)
• SFMF myspace [1]
• Sac Music Seen on myspace [2]
• 10x10 on myspace [3]

• Crest Theatre [4]
• Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission [5]
• Film submissions at Withoutabox [6]