Sacramento Film Festival

The Sacramento International Film Festival ("SFF") is an arts organization with year round activities, culminating in an annual film celebration each year in late March and continuing to early April [ [http://www.sacramentofilmfestival.com Sacramento Film Festival 2008, The Sacramento International Film Festival is our region's original global Festival of Cinema. Together with our partner, NORCALFILM.com, we form the oldest and most successful film event network supporting local and international filmmakers and their creative efforts since 1993. See inside and find out about our region's premiere film event supporting Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto, San Francisco, Davis, Rancho Cordova, Lake Tahoe, Reno and all of Northern California. Find out how you can become involved ] ]

Mission

Combining parties, live speakers, events and film screenings, the festival has come to be regarded as a centerpiece for the film scene in Sacramento, California, United States, though it has inspired or supported several similar events (i.e. French and Jewish fests). The festival only screens films that have not previously shown in or near Sacramento. The stated mission of SFF is to be a catalyst for greater appreciation of Cinema as art, build the local filmmaking community and work with Hollywood and independents alike to showcase Northern California as a dynamic place to shoot and screen movies.

History

The Sacramento Film Festival has its roots in the Sacramento Festival of Cinema, making it the oldest concurrently running film screening event in the Sacramento region. The Festival of Cinema began in 1995 under the guidance of original Director Ken Knoll. In 1999 Mr. Knoll transferred management of the event to Access Sacramento [ [http://www.accesssacramento.org Access Sacramento : Top Level : Welcome ] ] , a community media and Public Access TV station which had been a supporting partner to the festival since its beginning. Access Sacramento's Executive Director, Ron Cooper, assigned Managing Director duties to his outreach coordinator, Martin Anaya.

In 2004, due to budget and staffing cuts Access Sacramento management decided to trim the Festival down to just one component, the highly successful "Place Called Sacramento" local film incubation program, started by Mr. Cooper and Anaya. Not wanting many of the other festival programs to suffer, Martin Anaya asked for and received Access Sacramento's blessing to continue the larger Festival independently under the new banner "The Sacramento Film Festival".

Mission

Today the goals of SFF organizers are to offer programming and events for film enthusiasts of all economic, cultural and educational backgrounds and boast kudos from some very big talent.

"I've been to over a dozen festivals and I must say that this was the best overall experience I've had... doing the "Pitchfest" was equally rewarding and everything was first class."

This quote was expressed by Michael J. Parness, (Director of "My Suicidal Sweetheart/Max and Grace" with David Krumholtz and Natasha Lyonne.)

Goal

Festival promoters supply essential networking opportunities and open dialogue with filmmakers and consumers through on-line technologogy and a hospitable attitude at their shows. The stated goal of the festival is to serve and promote the Sacramento community as a cultural center for film arts.

References