hdfest
hdfest
So what do you know, I can now add film festival judge to things I have done in my life. Pretty cool!
I was invited by the nice folks over at the hdfest to be a judge when the swung through Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago. It was really great. I sat through 7 sessions. Short films, Sci fi, animation, drama, lots of great movies.
The hdfest is the world’s only high-def film festival. Since 2000, hdfest has known that high-def and digital cinema are the future of the entertainment industry. Since that time, hdfest has been at the heart and core of this revolution. The hdfest is a traveling festival, this year visiting: Seoul, South Korea, London, England, New York, New York, Hameenlinna, Finland and Los Angeles, CA.
Here is an observation. You get to see movies at film festivals that you just don’t get to see anywhere else. And some very good movies too, I might add.
Top Winners for 2006 included The Lost Cause, Mojave Phone Booth, First Flight, Expiration Date, Dirty Mary, Sound of Eternity, Crack in the Sidewalk, Friday Night Shirt, Seven Swans, Zoltan the Great, The Mars Underground, Water’s Journey, The Shovel and The Scoop.
Runner up nods for 2006 went to: Domestic, Le Petomane, True Chefs, Seibutsu: Still Life, Spaceboy, Still Living, The Toll, and Night People.
My favorite of the festival was "Mojave Phone Booth". This film was actually 4 intertwined stories all linked by a phone booth alone in the Mojave Desert. The idea comes from the real story of a phone that was some five miles down a dirt road off hwy 15 in California. Hwy 15 is the road from LA to Las Vegas. My follow up story will be about the phone booth itself, and a little info about my talk with MPB’s director John Putch. A little fact about John, he directed the TV remake of the Posiden Adventure, and has won the top award at the HDFest the last 2 years running. Pretty good and a reallly nice guy.
The Mars Underground is an awe inspiring film about our eventual trek to mars and a really good argument on why we shouldn’t wait. Check TV listings in the spring since this film has been sold to an unnamed TV outlet. . . Mysterious isn’t it. Evidently the couldn’t tell us who bought it until the deal is final.
Check out the HDFest site for more info
