The Big Bear Lake International Film Festival (BBLIFF) is pleased to announce the dates of the next Film Festival and Screenwriting Competition: 9/15/2011 to 9/18/2011.

The organization also encourages scriptwriters to enter the Screenwriting Competition by the early bird deadlines of December 31, 2010 (regular deadline 2/25/11). Screenplays may be submitted electronically at www.bigbearlakefilmfestival.com.

The screenwriting competition is an important component of BBLIFF. This is the 10th year the Festival has given aspiring writers the opportunity to submit entries, receive evaluations of their work and vie for an invitation to participate in the Festival.

All entries will be read and evaluated by a team of readers. Each entry is carefully considered, and the five highest rated screenplays are invited to take part as finalists in the Festival. The top five scripts are read by an eight-member panel of Hollywood professional producers, agents and managers who select 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners and 2 honorable mentions.

The BBLIFF screenwriting competition is unique among film festival screenwriting competitions because each entry receives back written evaluations of their script from a minimum of three different readers. Those that make it to the second round receive evaluations by six readers. As Screenwriting Competition Director Sandy Steers points out, “The majority of competitions do not provide writers with feedback and those that do charge extra for it. We receive thank you notes every year from writers who appreciate the level of assistance this valuable feedback has given them.”

A previous screenwriting competition winner, Iris Yamashita, realized her dream after participating in the BBLIFF competition. Yamashita was nominated for an academy award for best screenplay for the Clint Eastwood movie Letters From Iwo Jima (2006). Yamashita was discovered during the competition by a film festival juror, Catherine Tarr at Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Tarr recommended the screenwriter to Paul Haggis and Clint Eastwood who were working on a companion production to “Flags of Our Fathers.” Yamashita later returned to Big Bear to participate as a speaker on the screenwriting panel.

The Screenwriting awards, along with the Film awards will be presented on the afternoon of September 18 at the Big Bear Lake Performing Arts Center.

The Big Bear Lake International Film Festival attracts an average of 5,000 attendees to its scenic location yearly and will be celebrating its 12th anniversary at this year’s expanded event; September 15th – 18th, 2011. Tickets can be purchased online at bigbearlakefilmfestival.com; at the Big Bear Lake Performing Arts Center Box Office (39707 Big Bear Blvd., Big Bear Lake, CA 92315); or by phone: 909-866-4970. For more information about the festival call 909-866-3433 or email bigbearfilmfest@aol.com.

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Press Contact:
Vanessa Finney
909.866.0321 | vanessa@soundandstory.com