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11th Annual Sacramento Film & Music Festival

at Crest Theatre

July 23-August 1, 2010

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One of the most valuable assets to the Sacramento arts community is the long-running Sacramento Film & Music Festival (SF&MF), now in it's 11th season and running from July 23rd to August 1st this year. Founded in 2000 by Co-Director Nathan Schemel, at its core the SF&MF is a classic, submission-based, juried film festival, taking all genres of film from all locations. But as it has grown over the years, to its current ten-day program, it has added specific programs for both content and filmmaker categories. A good example of this is the Student Days program, a dedicated student film festival within the larger event, and in its fifth year of sponsorship from Sony Creative Software (who have recently agreed to three more years of support).

Two programs for local filmmakers, both in their seventh year, encourage and support community engagement. Sac Music Seen is a program that matches local filmmakers to local musicians to make original music videos, with almost 150 completed projects to date. The 10x10 Filmmaker Challenge is SF&MF's own answer to the guerilla filmmaking phenomenon, with teams being allowed ten days to make a ten minute movie. The 10x10 even has prize categories for such things as most creative use of a prop and by not focusing exclusively on polish and production values, this format allows experienced filmmakers to shine without excluding first-timers who might otherwise be intimidated.

This year's Festival opens somewhat ironically with Official Rejection, a film about the difficulties of getting accepted into film festivals. Other films include Harvest, a beautiful family drama about the passing of a patriarch, starring Robert Loggia and Arye Gross, and an evening of films about immigration and the immigrant experience. In addition to a dozen feature films, another 65 shorter films from the submission pool include 18 animated films, 9 foreign shorts, and over 20 films in the student category, including most of the top film schools and a few surprisingly sophisticated films from high school-aged students.

The Festival also partners with other longstanding community events, such as the Sacramento International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. This year, one evening includes a fascinating pair of documentaries about the dangers to senior citizens in the LGBT community who sometimes find themselves going back into the closet to avoid discrimination in settings like assisted living facilities, and a film about transgendered musicians and singers.

Ongoing relationships with multiple partners, such as Sony's funding of Student Days, allows for further interesting partnerships. Several years of support from Rubio's, for example,allows the Festival to bridge screenings with healthy, fresh food, and the Festival in turn sponsors other local arts programs such as the Jammies youth music competition, administered by the Sacramento News & Review. "Our primary mission is to showcase the work of talented filmmakers, but we're also very much a community arts event and we work closely with our partners such as the Capital Film Arts Alliance to promote local interest and involvement at all levels" said Festival Co-Director Tony Sheppard. In keeping with this spirit, all of the Festival directors have been active participants in Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson's innovative Arts Initiative, charged with increasing and promoting community arts programs and engagement.