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Houston,
TX - The 36th Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival continues its totally dedicated Independent Film screening format for the upcoming April 4-13, 2003 unspooling. WorldFest will screen just 50-60 feature film premieres, with a total and absolute emphasis on the American and International Independent feature films and with a continuing annual spotlight on award-winning short films and documentary films. The EARLY BIRD (discount) Deadline for entries is Nov. 15th 2002; the main Entry Deadline is Dec. 15th 2002, with a FINAL Deadline of Jan. 15th 2003 (late fee). Entry forms & complete entry information is on our website (www.worldfest.org) Entries officially open August 1st, 2002 for competition in the 36th Annual WorldFest.
WorldFest Artistic and Program Director, Kathleen Haney, stated, "We are continuing our focus on a quality selection of individual films to maintain a smaller, yet effective program rather than an overly large and unwieldy slate of 150-300 films. In consideration of both our festival audiences and the independent filmmakers, we feel that a solid high-quality program of no more than 60 features is optimum in a ten-day festival with twelve screening slots (on three theater screens) per day." Haney continued, "We are looking for 'A good story, well told' as our time-tested approach to film selection. We have special sidebars of Foreign, Children's and Family Film Sections. All of our films are totally Indie productions, and each film is well represented by their filmmakers, who attend to introduce their films!" All 35mm & DVD films are screened at the EFW Meyerland Theater, host of the 2003 WorldFest, the Indie Film Festival for the New Millennium.
WorldFest will continue with its annual Short Film Showcase, a special review of 100 new short and student films...from the festival that gave first honors to Spielberg, Lucas, Oliver Stone, Ang Lee, and David Lynch, among many others! No other festival has such a "discovery" track record. WorldFest has emerged as the oldest film festival management in the world with the same director, continuously for 36 consecutive years. A few other festivals are older, but they have had as many as ten different directors.
Most USA Film Festivals today have evolved into publicity platforms for major studio distributors. WorldFest showcases the true independent film, offering a fiercely dedicated special venue for directors searching for an independent forum for their works. WorldFest continues with a focused emphasis on new, premiering films that are seeking a distributor. The Festival also screens DVD video via Christie Digital DLP Projection and Wagner Media, major sponsors of the festival, in addition to 35mm film.
By having a small, highly selective schedule of new Indie films, WorldFest can better showcase each film and spotlight its individual character, rather than merely act as a preview platform for an upcoming regional release from a large US distributor. Most of the so-called 'Independent Films' featured at other festivals are actually high budget films produced by one of the major studios' special "Indie" divisions. In fact, most of the films featured at Sundance actually already have their distribution deals well in place.
The 120-page WorldFest program book is distributed to every major film festival in the world and to every known major distributor in the world. This detailed film catalogue has become an invaluable reference document for film acquisition and review.
WorldFest traces its actual beginnings to August 1961, when it began screening foreign & art films as Cinema Arts, an international film society. It became a competitive international film festival seven years later, in April 1968, and has been in continuous operation since. It is one of the original three film festivals in North America, with San Francisco and New York as the first two events. Now there are over 300 USA film festivals of various levels and quality, most being just non-competitive screening events!
The 36th Annual WorldFest also offers international competition in TV production, TV commercials, unproduced Screenplays & Teleplays, Experimental, Student, Documentary, Business & Industry, New Media and Music Videos. WorldFest is the largest film & video competition in the world, with more than 4,300 category entries received in 2002. There are almost 200 sub-categories for competition, allowing each film to compete in its own genre.
WorldFest offers more than $25,000 in cash grants and film & equipment awards, including the $2500 Eastman Kodak Student Award.
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