Takoma Park Film Festival

NEWS!

Experimental filmmakers Sabine Gruffat and Mary Billyou will present their traveling program "The Free Translators" on Saturday, May 24, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. This event will take place at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center in Silver Spring. This event is free and open to the public.

On Wednesday, May 14, 2008 Maryland-based director Joe Cashiola will present a sneak preview screening of his new digital feature A Thing as Big as the Ocean. The film was shot "guerilla style" over the course of five days and follows the meeting and short-lived but impactful relationship of two people traveling west on a Greyhound bus. This event takes place at the Takoma Park Community Center at 7:30 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.

Takoma Park filmmaker Nina Gilden Seavey's latest documentary The Matador is screening at Filmfest DC on April 28th and 30th, 2008.

On Wednesday, February 13, 2008, the film festival will host DC-based film/video directors Eric Cheevers and Scott Mueller. They will present Las Historias Mas Sexy Del Mundo! Nos. 1-2, their new video for the indie band Georgie James, and discuss their recent trip to Slamdance. The screening starts at 7:30 pm at the Takoma Park Community Center and is free and open to the public.

The following local videomakers or writers were awarded prizes donated by local businesses:
Chris Intagliata, writer, Race to Execution
Denise Prichard, director/producer, Cause
Casey Drogin, multiple titles
Lantz Barbour, multiple titles
Jonah Novek, The Lone Trombonist

The following filmmakers were awarded gift certificates for free motion picture processing donated by Colorlab: Rebecca Reynolds, Concrete
Brittany Gravely, The Blood of the Earthworm

Prizes were determined by the 2007 programming committee.

How to get to the festival via public transport:

Metro + walking/cycling
Take the red line metro to Takoma. Exit down the escalators through the main entrance. Walk/cycle straight, up the slight hill, past 7-11 on the left and Torchinsky's funeral home on the right. Turn left at Maple Ave. The community center is on Maple, just past Rte 410 (Philadelphia Ave). The walk will take perhaps 10-12 minutes.

Metro + bus (option 1)
Take the red line metro to Takoma. Ride On bus #25 will take you to the community center which is located at Rte 410 (a.k.a. Philadelphia Ave.) and Maple Ave.

Metro + bus (option 2)
Take the red line metro to Silver Spring. Ride On bus #17 will take you to the community center which is located at Rte 410 (a.k.a. Philadelphia Ave.) and Maple Ave.

For more information:
Ride On bus schedule
WMATA metro and bus information

Mark's Kitchen will host a benefit for us on Tuesday, November 13, 2007. A portion of the lunch and dinner receipts will be donated to the festival.

Glad Rags will be hosting an after-party on Friday, November 16, 2007, to celebrate the female and queer film/video artists participating in the festival. Food and wine will be served. All are welcome. The party starts at 10:00 p.m. Glad Rags is located at 7306 Carroll Avenue, Takoma Park MD 20912.

We've been awarded an "Arts in Communities" grant from MSAC.

Some local upcoming film/video events:

We are still looking for volunteers for the 2007 festival.

Look for us at the Takoma Park Folk Festival on Sunday, Sept. 16, 2007 and the Takoma Park Takoma Park Street Festival on Sunday, October 7, 2007.

We have been awarded FY08 grants from:

The Takoma Foundation

The 2006 screening committee is pleased to announce the following awards:

"Award for Awkward Breakfast/Lunch Conversation" to John Standiford for Plain English
"The Bolex Matte Box Award for Special Achievement in In-camera Effects" to Rebecca Reynolds for Palindrome
"The Award for Miles Driven in a Toyota Truck Over the Course of Five Years" to Catherine Pancake for Black Diamonds
"The Flying Foodstuffs Awards" to Nina Seavey for A Short History of Sweet Potato Pie and How It Became A Flying Saucer
"The Grassroots Activism Award" to Lisa Jaeggi for Finding Our Turf
"The Award for Heroic Achievement by Unsupervised Youths" to Rod, Justin and Jordan Haxton for Creepy
"The Runcible Spoon Award" to Laurie Stepp, Julian Boilen and Michelle Cooley-Klein for The Jumblies

John and Rebecca have each won $100 worth of film processing from Colorlab. Catherine has won a $50 gift certificate from Amano. Nina has won a dog biscuit dispenser from The Big Bad Woof. Lisa and her production team have won a chocolate bundt cake from Summer Delights. Justin and Jordan Haxton have won a Super 8 camera, donated by Rerun. Laurie has won a $20 gift certificate from Madame X's Vintage Planet. Julian has won free rentals from Video Americain, and Michelle has won two ugly dolls from Now and Then. Thanks to all of the local businesses who generously donated these prizes!

Thanks to TPSS who will be donating food for our opening night reception and Savory who will provide food for our kids' reception on Saturday.

Joy Austin-Lane of the Takoma Park City Council and Eric Gilliland, President of WABA, are the latest additions to our panel discussion on the urban environment. The panel takes place on Sunday at 5:00p.m. following a screening of films and videos on the same subject. The panel will be moderated by former NPR producer Steve Mencher.

We are please to announce our 2006 closing night guests: novelist, screenwriter, and producer George Pelecanos and writer and screenwriter James Grady. Pelecanos and Grady will appear in conjunction with our screening of the documentary The Long Haul of A.I. Bezzerides, produced by Pelecanos, and the classic film noir Kiss Me Deadly, scripted by Bezzerides.

Takoma Park Film Festival t-shirt T-shirts are now available. Pick one up at our next event or email us about purchasing one on-line. Shirts are $10.00/each. S, M, L, and XL sizes are in stock.

We've been awarded an "Arts in Communities" grant from the Maryland State Arts Council. You can help us meet our fundraising goals by making a tax-deductible donation.

We participated in the 29th Annual Takoma Park Folk Festival on Sept. 10 and the Takoma Park Street Festival on October 1, 2006.

Mark's Kitchen hosted a benefit for us on August 15, 2006.

On Saturday, August 12, 2006 the Takoma Park Film Festival presented the first Takoma Park celebration of Home Movie Day. We screened a diversity of 16mm, standard 8mm and Super 8mm films including: holidays in the midwest during the 1950s, a California vacation, Washington DC in the 1950s, a holiday in Cancun, a trip to the Outer Banks, 1980s New Waver vs Punk Rockers, and more. Thanks to Historic Takoma for their participation.

photo of Bill Brown at the TKPK Community Center

On Tuesday, August 1, 2006, the film festival hosted a screening of work by filmmaker Bill Brown and other artists at the community center. The screening was the first stop on a nation-wide "pedal-powered movie tour" of short films on the subject of the US/Mexico border.

We didn't march in the 2006 Takoma Park July 4th parade, but you can relive last year's triumphant and prize-winning experience here.