Fearless Film Festival Screenings Announced

More than 200 short films were submitted for this year’s Fearless Film Festival, and organizers have selected 16 from across the globe for screening in the four-year-old short film fest that brought moving pictures to MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival (MAIN ST.).

Fearless Film Festival screenings are scheduled at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, April 10 and 1:15 p.m. Sunday, April 11, at the David L. Tandy Lecture Hall at the Fort Worth Central Library.

Filmmakers’ panels return this year, and the festival program also includes a special presentation of One Square Mile, the documentary series that is putting Fort Worth filmmakers on the map.

The film festival complements visual and performing arts showcased in MAIN ST., one of the nation’s top fine arts fairs, and celebrates the short film format, organizers said.

“There’s a growing recognition of the role short films play in feature filmmaking careers,” Fearless Film Festival coordinator and filmmaker Melissa Kirkendall said. “The spotlight that this year’s Academy Awards program put on short films is just one example. Every major film festival has a short film component, but it’s our pleasure to devote our entire schedule to short films and the people making them.”

Fearless Film Festival is open to short films of up to 20 minutes and honors the best in categories ranging from documentary and narrative to experimental, animation, dance, music video and trailer as well as best of show. Winners are awarded cash and non-cash prizes.

Fearless Film Festival has an international appeal, and foreign films have won Best of Show in three of the four years of competition.

Winners in the fourth annual Fearless Film Festival are:

The Tea Master (10min)Winner: Best in Show
Dir: Aaron Au (Vancouver, BC, Canada)

The Ah of Life (2min 50 sec) Winner: Best Trailer
Dir: Banks Helfrich (Florida)

Superstitious? (4min.) Winner: Experimental
Dir: David Magnier United Kingdom)

Frames (3min 19sec) Winner: Best Student Film & Rose Marine Theater Award
Dir: Jaime Chapin (Argyle, Tx.)

They Can’t Deport Us All (3min) Winner: Best Music Video

Dir: Rocky Curby (Northridge, Ca)

Skylight (4min 37sec) Winner: Best Animation
Dir. David Baas (Toronto, ON)

So As Through Fire (11min) Winner: Best Narrative
Dir: Tony Pauletto (North Hollywood, CA)

Eric/Derailed (19min) Winner: Foreign Film
Dir. Nicolas Simonin Simonin (Paris, France)

Winning films and eight more selected by jurors from the local film community will be screened in the festival. Fearless Film Festival is presented as part of the “Off MAIN!” series of performances in venues both on and off Main Street during the fine arts festival.

Filmmakers’ panels for 2010 take on the personal documentary and distribution alternatives as well as resources available to Texas filmmakers in sessions Saturday and Sunday, April 10 and 11 in two downtown locations. Panels and special presentations are:

Saturday, April 10

Chappell Meeting Room, Fort Worth Central Library

• 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. One Square Mile Special Presentation
• 1 to 2 p.m. Webisodic series & short film on the net
• 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Self Distribution
• 4 to 6 p.m. Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund workshop

4 Day Weekend Theater

• Noon to 1:30 p.m. The Personal Documentary with Kelley Baker, a.k.a. the Angry Film Maker
• 2 to 3 p.m. One Square Mile Special Presentation

Sunday, April 11

Chappell Meeting Room, Fort Worth Central Library

• 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. One Square Mile and Angry Film Maker special documentary presentation series

MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival celebrates its 25^th year April 8-11 with a celebration of fine arts and crafts, music, film and food a mile long, stretching from the Tarrant County Courthouse to the Fort Worth Convention Center.

More than 200 juried artists and fine crafts exhibitors will line brick-paved Main Street, joined by musicians and dancers on three stages. Performance artists and food and drink vendors complete the scene.

MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival is presented by Coors Light and produced by Downtown Fort Worth Initiatives, Inc. Festival hours will be 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday, April 8; 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 9-10; and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday, April 11, 2010. Admission is free to the public. For more information, visit www.mainstreetartsfest.org.

MAIN ST. is made possible by a host of corporate citizens who support the festival year in and year out, bringing the finest entertainment to North Texas. Official Sponsors are Chase, Green Mountain Energy Company, Sundance Square, Texas Lincoln Mercury Dealers, and XTO Energy. Media Sponsors include CBS 11/TXA 21,D Magazine and the Star-Telegram as well as radio stations Mix 102.9, 102.1 The Edge, 106.1 KISS FM, 95.9 FM The Ranch, Country Legends 92.1, and Lone Star 92.5. Supporting Sponsors include Chesapeake Energy Company, Coca-Cola Bottling Company of North Texas, Dallas/Fort Worth Professional Musicians Association, Fort Worth Transportation Authority, Pizza Hut, Target and the University of Texas at Arlington.

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