First off, we want to thank everybody for coming out to kick-off the 2009 Greater Philadelphia Student Film Festival on Wednesday! In case you missed it, we had filmmakers from colleges all over Philly - it was a great way to meet fellow filmmakers and see what they are doing at other schools. Pictures coming soon.

A couple of exciting things were announced:

** Mark you calendars for the 2009 GPSFF awards ceremony will be held on March 27th from 7-10pm @ Levitt Auditorium (401 S. Broad Street). We will be screening the winners of each category, and there are going to be free burritos sponsored by Qdoba! Tickets are $10 online and $15 at the door.
** We are pleased to announce that the winner of this year’s competition is going to be receiving $1750 worth of film equipment rentals from Philly HVX!
** Check out GPSFF Connect today! GPSFF Connect connects Philly’s film community - think of it like Craigslist for filmmakers. Got a great production idea, and want to find actors or crew? Do you have a great script that you want to film? Are you an actor looking to do some student film work? Hop on GPSFF Connect today and find the right people across the city.
** Thank you to everybody who came to the first GPSFF Panel, “What Next?,” about film marketing and distribution on Wednesday at UArts. GPSFF will be hosting more education panels in March - mark your calendars for March 4th @ Penn/Drexel and March 19th @ Temple. Keep checking our website for more details.

And with no further ado, (drumroll, please) the nominees are…

Animation
3 Minus 1 to Tango - Zach Decktor
Action Movie Hero Boy - Sean Depew
Kukulitis - Larisa Lazdins
Ready or Not - Julie Pisano
Wiff - Rusty Eveland

Comedy
The Boy’s Guide - Colin George
The Dark Adventures of Captain Emo - Caitlin Cullen
Odd Jobs - Dylan Steinberg
Paging Dr. Smith - Chandler Simms

Documentary
Conversations With My Aunt - Aigigh Ebrahimi Baza
Il Vino - Nick Murphy
Kelli - Ashley Zazzarino
Meet Joe - John Clements

Drama
Bon Voyage Jacques Cousteau - Danny Corey
El Domingo Dorado - Kimberly Bunce
The Birthday Girl - Dylan Steinberg
Night Shift - Kevin Martin
The Bridge - Nick Murphy

Experimental
Subconscious - Jason Chen
They Used to Have 4 Eyes but Now He Only Has One - Scott Gelber
Another Bad Idea - Rusty Eveland
Cubicle - Anthony Angelicola
Moving Reality - Daniel Alfaro

Congratulations to all our nominees! We will be screening the Top 3 films in each category at our Awards Ceremony on March 27th. We will be in contact with all of the nominees shortly.

A note on the nominees: We received a lot of GREAT films this year (over 130 films, a new GPSFF record). And in all honesty, this year’s overall pool of submissions was the strongest ever. It always hurts when we have to cut some really excellent films. We’ve taken extra steps this year to make this process as as fair and equitable as possible - you can read about them on our rules page. To those who were not selected as nominees, we know it’s very disappointing. But remember there’s always the chance to submit another film or two to GPSFF 2010 - you’d be surprised how much you can improve in a year.

Yanik and Abhi
GPSFF Festival Directors

6,000 paintings. ’nuff said. I highly recommend watching in HD.

Khoda from Reza Dolatabadi on Vimeo.

Now What? a panel on the fledgling director and distribution
Hosted by The Greater Philadelphia Student Film Festival

So you have a great film ready to be shown to the world–now what? Join the Greater Philadelphia Student Film Festival in the first of our panel series on filmmaking. Ask questions and hear advice on marketing, distribution and publicity from experts in the industry, with Maori Karmael-Holmes of the Black Lily Film Festival, publicist Paula Moritz, independent film producer Steven Thompson, and Daniel Van Wert of the NextFrame Film Festival.

Feb. 25, 2 p.m.
Connelly Auditorium, Terra Hall, at the University of the Arts
211 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA

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GPSFF KICKOFF PARTY
It’s almost here! Come for food, music, videos, and meet fellow filmmakers from universities around the region. There will also be a chance to meet Philadelphia directors, cinematographers, talent directors, and film professors.

** Nominees for the 2009 GPSFF festival will be announced at the party **

WHEN?: Wednesday February 25th, 2009 at 8pm
WHERE?: Hamilton Hall at UArts, 320 South Broad Street in Philadelphia (3 blocks south of City Hall in Center City)

Feel free to bring some friends! RSVP to events@gpsff.com and attend our facebook event at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=52771097957.

The Philadelphia Film Festival Produced by TLA Entertainment Group & CineFest Presented by the Philadelphia Film Society is pleased to announce the launch of Fade To Black: Perspectives In Black Cinema .
Up to ten (10) selections will be screened in all of the reserved Philadelphia Film Festival venues throughout the city on different times and days.

Join us for a special preview of this year’s selections, and to learn more about upcoming festival activities:
Thursday, February 26, 2009
6-8pm
Ms. Tootsie’s Restaurant Bar Lounge 1312 South Street Center City, Philadelphia

See more GPFO & film events in Philly by visiting: http://www.film.org/film/events/

GPSFF will be kicking off with a splash next Wednesday in Center City. Come for food, music, videos, and meet fellow filmmakers from universities around the region. There will also be a chance to meet Philadelphia directors, cinematographers, talent directors, and film professors.

** Nominees for the 2009 GPSFF festival will be announced at the party **

WHEN?: Wednesday February 25th, 2009 at 8pm
WHERE?: Hamilton Hall at UArts, 320 South Broad Street in Philadelphia (3 blocks south of City Hall in Center City)

Feel free to bring some friends! RSVP to events@gpsff.com and attend our facebook event at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=52771097957.

Who would of thought…

Magnificent sound design.

Dark Sun from Benjamin Parslow on Vimeo.

It has been a busy weekend watching everyone’s films. We received 135. Thank you all for submitting.

Today we picked the finalists that will be sent off to the judges. We have some very strong contenders and this year’s awards ceremony will have a very strong lineup.

There were a few films where we reclassified the genre. We will let the filmmakers know.

Also, everyone mark your calendars for February 25th at 8pm. This is our kickoff party. We will announce who was sent off to the judges. It is going to a be a fun event with food, music, videos, and a chance to meet student filmmakers from universities around the region. We are also inviting film professors, directors, cinematographers, talent directors, film festival directors, etc. to meet you and see your work.

We will send out invitations this week.

Best,
Yanik and Abhi

Hemlock from Tyson Ibele on Vimeo.

So if the first Friday of the month is for art, then maybe this last Friday of February is for film.

THE SECRET CINEMA (my very own version of “The Secret Garden”??) is hosting a Scopitone party, screening and talk. A night of fabulous French jukebox shorts that would otherwise be impossible to see, a talk led by a Scopitone expert AND a party with pop music? This event is totally worth checking out.

Moore College of Art & Design
20th & Race Streets, Philadelphia
(215) 965-4099

On Friday, February 27, The Secret Cinema will present SCOPITONE PARTY, a unique collection of music films from the early and mid 1960s. They were originally made for a French film jukebox called Scopitone, which entertained patrons in bars, cafes and bus stations in both Europe and America. The film clips, which feature performers both famous and obscure — and are considered to be among the more important of the many predecessors to the modern rock video — are today quite scarce, and difficult to see in their original form.

Shown will be a large assortment of the precious prints (most of which were discovered by a film collector, in pristine, never-used condition, in the long-warehoused inventory of a retired Virginia jukebox dealer). Adding interest to the SCOPITONE PARTY program will be a special talk about the history of film jukeboxes (which date back to the 1940s), illustrated with color slides of rare photos and original advertising materials.

There will be one complete show, starting at 8:00 pm. Admission is $7.00.

The talk will be given by Secret Cinema director Jay Schwartz, who has now presented the SCOPITONE PARTY program at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, Columbia University in New York, the Festival Internacional de Cine de Gijon (Spain), the Benicassim music festival (also Spain), and a rock film festival in Athens, Greece.

SCOPITONE PARTY will include performances by such well-known names as Dion, Nancy Sinatra, Paul Anka and Procul Harum. Also on view will be many French pop performers, including currently in retro-vogue names like Francoise Hardy, Sylvie Vartan, Michel Polnareff, Juliette Gréco, rockabilly-belting Johnny Hallyday, and doomed chanteuse Dalida. And then there are mystifying, bizarre clips by the British Elvis imitator Vince Taylor, a quartet of singing Jerry Lewis-types named Les Brutos, and even a few songs by performers whose names were lost to history.

SECRET CINEMA WEBSITE: http://www.thesecretcinema.com

A Final Call: The late submission deadline for GPSFF is this Friday!

All submissions must be received by 5pm in order to qualify. Don’t think you can mail it in time? Hop on the Blue Line to 34th street and drop it off!

Don’t miss your chance to have your film screened in front of 500+ people at our Awards Ceremony or shown at the Philadelphia Film Festival. For complete details on how to submit your film, click here.