A jury of seven industry professionals will review the top rated films for the Jury Award winners and audience in attendance will have an opportunity to vote for their favorite films. Among the seven feature films are, Cast Me If You Can about an actor who always plays supporting roles and lives in the shadow of his famous playwright father; Earthwork, a true story about the crop artist Stan Herd who plants his rural art in NYC with the help of a group of homeless characters on a plot owned by Donald Trump; the comedy Father vs Son about a father and son who fall for the same mysterious woman; a supernatural thriller, Golden Earrings exploring the fine line of friendship; a story about an agoraphobic woman in Solitary; a conman stuck in limbo after a car accident in Limbo Lounge; and a young pianist battling with his competitors in Ivory.
The twenty-five documentaries in competition consist of the incredible story of how David Klein created Jelly Belly jelly beans in Candyman: The David Klein Story; one man’s irrational quest to reunite the musical group The Kinks in Do It Again; Unforgettable, about the memorable adventures of “The Human Google,” Brad Williams whose detailed memory of every day life leads to unexpected notoriety; a short documentary about Jules Engel, who founded the animation program at Cal Arts called Jules Engel: An Artist For All Seasons; My Kidnapper, a true story about Mark Henderson who was kidnapped in the Columbia Jungle; My Run about Terry Hitchcock, who accomplished the impossible by running 75 consecutive marathons in 75 consecutive days bringing awareness to the struggle of single-parent families after the losing his wife to breast cancer; the student film, Still Here about a man infected with HIV for 30 years, making him an inadvertent witness to the AIDS epidemic; The Judge, The Hunter, The Thief and the Black Orchid about the orchid world and what is known as “Orchid Fever,”; and She Wore Silver Wings about Jean Landis who became a WASP, Woman Air Force Service Pilot and one of the unsung heroes of WWII; and two documentaries made by local filmmakers, A Devine Haunting about paranormal activities at the Captain’s Anchorage once owned by Andy Devine and The Pinewood Derby about the Big Bear Elementary school’s Pinewood Derby; and actor Paul Le Mat from American Graffiti will be on hand for a Q&A after his screening of Hot Rods Across America on Friday at 3:30 pm at the Performing Arts Center, along with many more great documentaries.
We have over seventy-five short films including family films, student films, animation and high school films selected in the competition. A shorts block of family films will screen on Saturday at 10:30 am at the Village Theater North and the High School Student showcase of films will begin at 11:00 am at the Performing Arts Center. Check the film schedule for the many short and student film screenings.
At the Friday night opening night Gala, the festival will present Noel Blanc with the Community Appreciation Award, Clint Howard with the Acting Award of Excellence and Caleb Deschanel, ASC with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Cinematography followed by the opening night film, Alabama Moon.
All festival films and a schedule of screening times can be found on the bigbearlakefilmfestival.com website.
For advance tickets, log on to www.bigbearlakefilmfestival.com or call the Big Bear Lake Performing Arts Center Box Office at (909) 866-4970. Tickets may also be purchased at the door.
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Press contact:
Vanessa Finney
(909) 866-0321 | vanessa@soundandstory.com