Saturday, September 5, 2009

Third Annual Venango Digital Film Festival Next Weekend


The third annual Venango Digital Film Festival, which was organized to promote western Pennsylvania's digital film making and filmmakers, begins next Friday.

Screenings of films by the finalists will take place Friday at the Crawford Center in Emlenton, Saturday, Sept. 12, at DeBence Antique Music World in Franklin, and Sunday, Sept. 13, in Rhoades Auditorium at Clarion University-Venango Campus in Oil City.

The Venango Digital Film Association accepts submissions from all mainstream genres. Videos are pre-viewed by an organizing committee and winners are selected by the audiences.

Winners will be announced at the end of the third screening in Oil City. The audience selects three favorites that receive Peoples Choice awards and cash prizes.

Public screenings will begin at 6:30 p.m. on the three evenings. The film festival committee accepts submissions throughout the year, and this year’s deadline was Aug. 14. Films must be 10-30 minutes long, and submissions can only be accepted from western Pennsylvania locations.

Past festival winners include the Paul Newbury family for their film "The Emlenton Mill Movie" and Matt Hovis for "Iron Furnaces." Screenplay winners include Michael Moon for "The Love of a Son" and Amy Dittman for "A Warning to Young Ladies." The committee is in the process of arranging a filming of the two screenplay winners.

The festival is intended for both amateur and professional filmmakers to share their art publically. The film association says it would like to see more submissions for the new youth category and more diverse subject matters.

Tickets for the festival are $5 or $3 for students with a valid ID.

More information is available by visiting www.vdff.org. or calling 676-3927.

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