The Sacramento Film and Music Festival
The Sacramento Film and Music Festival (SFMF), presented by Sactown Magazine, is a large, multi-day, all-genre international film festival held annually in Sacramento, California in the United States. It has been in operation under consistent direction and ownership since 2000. The festival's mission is to celebrate and showcase excellent filmmaking from around the world and to be a leading sponsor and facilitator of the art of film in California's Capital region.
In 2007, the eighth annual Sacramento Film and Music Festival welcomed special guests Larry Meistrich, principle of NEHST Studios and producer of such movies as the Academy Award winning Sling Blade and You Can Count On Me; Mike DiManno and Scott Reid, CEO and President respectively of Redwood Palms Pictures; and writer/director Joe Carnahan. During the 2007 Festival, 99 films were screened in competition, plus 5 short movies produced for The Sacramento Bee. In an eight-hour marathon pitch session, Larry Meistrich met with filmmakers and prospective filmmakers, directly resulting in four development deals. Whenever possible, the Festival helps filmmakers with further development and distribution opportunities.
In 2007, the Festival added the marquee sponsor Sactown Magazine.
In 2006, the seventh annual SFMF featured over 90 film and video projects and 4 live bands over five days, including the special programs Sac Music Seen (a local music video production program), the 10x10 Filmmaker Challenge (a 10-day filmmaking program), and Student Days (a student film festival within the larger event). The Sac Music Seen program was supported by a grant from the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission in recognition of its contributions to the arts community and support of both local musicians and filmmakers.[citation needed] SFMF was voted Sacramento's "Best Film Festival" by readers of the Sacramento News and Review.
In 2004, in its fifth year, SFMF was recognized by both Sacramento's Mayor Heather Fargo and California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for its achievements and contributions to the community.
Submissions and Programming
The Sacramento Film and Music Festival is submission-based and highly selective, accepting films in all genres and of all lengths, from anywhere in the world. Programs are determined based on the nature of submissions received and the opinions of the screening committee. A separate film jury determines award winners, in addition to the audience awards.
Sac Music Seen
The Sac Music Seen program pairs local musicians and bands with local filmmakers to produce original music videos. While the larger Festival also accepts music videos for general programming, Sac Music Seen is a unique program in the local arts community and, as such, has been recognized and supported by such entities as the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission and the Sacramento Bee. In the first three years of the program's existence 2004-2006), it produced and screened 70 original music videos, some of which have gone on to be shown in various MTV markets and, for example, a 2006 music video directed by Sacramento filmmaker Erik Espera for the band "Warp 11" is currently distributed by Apple's iTunes service.
10x10 Filmmaker Challenge
In another unique SFMF program, the 10x10 filmmakers are given 10 days to make a movie of no more than 10 minutes on a given theme. The program started as a midnight screening experiment in 2004 with seven films on the topic of "the Undead and the Seven Deadly Sins". Since then a total of 34 originals projects have been completed and screened and this program has become the closing event of the Festival.
Sony Creative Software Student Days
Added to the Festival in 2006, Student Days is a series of programming periods exclusively intended to showcase the works of student filmmakers and is an opportunity to support the work of these gifted individuals. The first Student Days program featured 20 projects over 2 afternoons and included works from the American Film Institute, Chapman University, Columbia College Chicago, New York University, Pasadena's Art Center College of Design, the University of California Los Angeles, the University of Central Florida, and the University of Southern California. The event was renamed Sony Creative Software Student Days prior to the 2007 Festival, in recognition of the generous, multi-year support by the creators of the Vegas, Acid, Sound Forge, and Cinescore family of editing products.
The Sacramento Alliance of Film Festivals
The Sacramento Film and Music Festival is a member of the Sacramento Alliance of Film Festivals, along with the following partner events:
- A Place Called Sacramento - a screenwriting and filmmaking program of Access Sacramento
- Cine Soul (The Sacramento Black Film Festival)
- The Sacramento French Film Festival
- The Sacramento International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
- The Sacramento Jewish Film Festival