Now in its third year Bend FF has proven itself as both a venue for unique, independent film as well as a viable marketplace for indy filmmakers. Filmmaker Craig Highbergers ‘deal’ for theatrical distribution of his feature doc Jack Mitchell: My Life Is Black and White (2006) immediately after its debut screening has put the festival on the map. Details of the theatrical run for Craig’s film are expected soon. The film stylishly documents the life and work of the New York art scene photo...

Los Angeles – In a city that is driven by the filmed entertainment business the festivals offered to Angeleno’s have been hit or miss over the years. This year the homegrown Los Angeles Film Festival made the bold move of uprooting itself from its Hollywood base and moving to the UCLA village of Westwood. This was the latest in a series of changes that began when the festival shifted dates from spring to summer back in 2002. Next, Rachel Rosen was scouted from the venerable San Francisco Fi...

The “Other” Venice Film Festival Venice California was one man's dream of a place to resemble Venice, Italy. In 1900 Abbot Kinney founded Venice, California. At first Venice was a romantic network of canals but Kinney's idea never really worked, and with the arrival of cars and freeways to LA, the canals were abandoned. In the 1960s Venice, California became a low rent district on the ocean that attracted artists and young radicals from across the nation. Always slightly on the margin...