By Rob Owen<\/p>\n
\u201cRoll Cameras. Speed. Mark. Action Background.\u00a0 And\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Since it first lit up its screens in 2006, the Central Florida Film Festival \u2014 CENFLO for short \u2014 has developed into an international event where people come to wrap themselves in the cinematic machine.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we are doing is creating networking,\u201d said Bob Cook, the festival\u2019s executive director, in a telephone interview.\u00a0 \u201cWe connect writers with directors, directors with producers, producers with distributers, and hopefully deals are made. And once those deals are made, they shoot those films in Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cook added that those jobs opportunities extend to college students as well. \u201cI know for a fact that UCF, Valencia\u00a0 and the University of Florida up in the Gainesville area have all created projects here in Central Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year the festival will run from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2 at the West Orange 5 Cinema, 1575 Maguire Road in Ocoee.\u00a0 Attendees can enjoy a host of feature films, documentaries and shorts showcasing independent filmmakers doing what they love. Workshops and seminars on the industry will also be available to anyone interested. Those attending will have a chance to rub elbows with people in the film industry and make connections.<\/p>\n
While being in the festival may open doors to a future in the movies, getting your work shown is not easy. Of \u00a0200 films submitted annually, only 65 to 70 are showcased. Only one in three is accepted into the festival.<\/p>\n
\u201cFilm is subjective art. Everyone has their own opinion,\u201d explained Cook.<\/p>\n
Those who do meet the bar\u2019s high standard get the chance to put their name out there, make contacts and measure themselves against other filmmakers in competition. Th ere are awards for best Florida project, best documentary, best short, best feature and a best student project especially for college submissions.<\/p>\n
Winners might gain even more.<\/p>\n
According to the festival\u2019s website, www.centralfloridafilmfestival.com, the workshops and seminars throughout the festival are there to help improve hopeful filmmakers\u2019 skills. Topics include film financing, acting and producing films in Florida and feature industry leaders such as the legendary Burton Moss. Moss was agent to Rita Hayworth, Barbara Eden, Lana Turner, Robert Vaughn and many other stars of the \u201cGolden Age of Hollywood.\u201d Moss will be sitting in on the \u201cActing in Film\u201d panel.<\/p>\n
The festival also offers\u00a0 big names on the screen. Opening night\u2019s highlight, \u201cWar Flowers,\u201d throws Christina Ricci and Tom Berenger deep into the South during the American Civil War. \u00a0That film will be shown at 7:25 p.m. and will include a question and answer session with director Serge Rodunsky. Earlier in the day, at 2:15, there will be a showing of \u201cTrue Bromance,\u201d\u00a0 starring Adrian Grenier, best known for his work on HBO\u2019s hit series \u201cEntourage\u201d\u00a0 and Devin Ratray. Ron Howard\u2019s and Canon\u2019s Project Imagination\u2019s short film, \u201cWhen You Find Me,\u201d will be screened Saturday night. Ron Howard\u2019s daughter, Bryce Howard, directed the short. The festival is one of the few selected to show the film.<\/p>\n
CENFLO also is famous for not only showcasing stars, but making them.<\/p>\n
In 2008, The Central Florida Film Festival selected a small independent film called \u201cPretty Ugly People\u201d as best picture. The film\u2019s plot follows a girl, played by Missi Pyle, who drops a large amount of weight to try and impress old college friends, but instead finds out that those friends are not the same people she remembers.<\/p>\n
The film beat four other features in the finals, including a black and white crime drama and a mock documentary about brothers trying to get enough money to put one of them through rehab.<\/p>\n
\u201cPretty Ugly People\u201d brought a great deal of attention to director Tate Taylor and producer Brunston Green, both graduates of the University of California, Los Angeles, where five-time Oscar winner Francis Ford Coppola attended as well. Moving forward, the two made names for themselves when last year when they received Oscar nominations for their work on \u201cThe Help.\u201d<\/p>\n
The festival kicks off at 9:45 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 31, with student short films\u00a0 and documentaries in theaters 1, 3 and 6. Student entries represent the University of Central Florida and Full Sail locally, but extend to Florida State and Columbia universities, along with the New York Film Academy. In keeping with the festival\u2019s international flair, there are entries from Israel and Canada too.<\/p>\n
But what of films rejected by the festival? What happens to them? At CENFLO unused films aren\u2019t thrown out. This festival differs from others, according to Cook, because when someone doesn\u2019t make the cut, the festival still offers a critique of the film.<\/p>\n
Amateur filmmaker and current Florida State University student Mike Isasi has experience with not getting into festivals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve submitted a couple of animated shorts to Florida film festivals before. Never got into any of them. But I did get a letter back from CENFLO saying that I needed to work on my editing and story continuity. At least I got something back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Cook explained the process saying, \u201cIf you don\u2019t get in, we tell you why you didn\u2019t get in and where you need work. What we try to do is make the filmmaker better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Isasi\u2019s latest film, \u201cGregory,\u201d is another short featuring a mutant working a 9 to 5 \u00a0job. Isasi is completing the editing and continuity flaws and hopes to send \u201cGregory\u201d out to various festivals when it\u2019s finished.<\/p>\n
\u201cFestivals are where it\u2019s at,\u201d said Isasi, \u201c They give us nobodies a chance to get out there and make our names. And in a place like Florida, that\u2019s hard to do. Hollywood is on the other coast, so how are we supposed to get out there? At least this way, people can see my films on the big screen and that\u2019s what I really want.\u201d<\/p>\n
The festival is open to the public and is especially aimed at those interested in the world of independent films. Individual screenings are $10 per movie, but a Movie Watcher Pass can be purchased for $25 a day. The pass includes \u00a0all festival movies on three screens, as well as a medium soft drink, medium popcorn and three ballots for the Audience Choice Award. Tickets can be purchased in advance from West Orange 5, either online or call 407-877-8111. All proceeds from the festival will benefit Building Homes for Heroes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cRoll Cameras. Speed. Mark. Action Background. And\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Since it first lit up its screens in 2006, the Central Florida Film Festival \u2014 CENFLO for short \u2014 has developed into an international event where people come to wrap themselves in the cinematic machine. Continue reading Film festival returns to Central Florida<\/span>