2010 Ozark Foothills FilmFest Schedule on Website

The Ozark Foothills FilmFest has posted the 2010 festival schedule on its website, www.ozarkfoothillsfilmfest.org. The 9th annual festival takes place March 24 to 28 at a number of venues in Batesville. The website includes dates and times for all events; ticket prices; Foothills Film Society membership information; film descriptions; biographies and photos of guest filmmakers; links to trailers, film, and filmmaker websites; and local lodging and dining information.

Festival activities include two free Brown Bag programs at Old Independence Regional Museum at noon on Wednesday and Thursday, March 24 and 25. “Southern Exposure” Documentaries, acclaimed short films with a Southern emphasis, will be featured both days.

Lyon College hosts the first of two festival programs of new French Films on Wednesday evening at 7:00 p.m. in the Kresge Gallery. The program includes short narratives and animation. The second program of French films screens on Sunday afternoon, March 28, at 1:00 p.m. at Independence Hall on the campus of UACCB. Lyon College will also host the third annual Screenwriting Competition awards program on Thursday evening at 8:00 p.m. in the Bevens Music Room in Brown Chapel.

Heidi Van Lier, author of The Indie Film Rule Book, will lead a workshop for emerging independent filmmakers on Friday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. at UACCB. The workshop is free but advance registration is encouraged. Contact bobpest@wildblue.net.

A total of 55 films will be screened during the festival and approximately twenty filmmakers are expected to attend. Film premieres include documentary films about Dogpatch USA and the Crater of Diamonds, as well as a new feature-length documentary about soccer in rural America. Two Arkansas Arts Council Film and Video Fellowship recipients, Sarah Moore and Daehwan Cho, will present and discuss their ground-breaking digital work on Friday evening, March 26.

The festival celebrates Cajun culture with two programs. On Saturday afternoon, Les Blank, documentary trailblazer, will screen and discuss his two Cajun masterpieces, J’ai Ete´ au Bal, the definitive Cajun music concert film, and Marc and Ann, a portrait of Cajun music giants, Marc and Ann Savoy. The Savoy Family Cajun Band will perform in concert Saturday evening. Films from the Southern Foodways Alliance are also part of Saturday’s line-up. Joe York will share four of his “Southern food films” Saturday beginning at 12:30.

Phil Chambliss latest film, The Funeral Center, will be screened as part of a Short Narrative Showcase on Saturday afternoon. Chambliss unites two popular characters from earlier films, Pastor Massey and Reverend OK. The less-than-perfect spiritual leaders have been gunned down by the county deputies for stealing electricity. They are spending the night before their funerals in their coffins, swapping yarns and sharing memories with two undead visitors.

Spencer Parsons, writer/director of the widely-discussed Indie feature, I’ll Come Running, attends on Sunday afternoon to screen and discuss his quirky, break-out romance. The festival closes on Sunday evening with Wendy and Lucy, a provocative drama about life without a safety-net and one of the most acclaimed Indie features of the last few years.

Ozark Foothills FilmFest has been chosen one of the Top 20 Tourism Events for March 2010 by the Southeast Tourism Society, a regional consortium dedicated to the promotion of travel to and within the Southeastern states, recognizing the importance of festivals, events, and attractions in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Visit www.southeasttourism.org or www.escapetothesoutheast.com for more information.

Ozark Foothills FilmFest, Inc. is a 501 (c) (3) educational non-profit corporation founded in 2001. First Community Bank is the festival’s Founding Sponsor. Major sponsors include the Arkansas Arts Council, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the FutureFuel Chemical Company, Independence County, Midwest Lime, Citizen’s Bank, Atlas Asphalt, WRD Entertainment, , KFFB 106.1FM, the Ozark Gateway Tourist Council, Life in the Ozarks, and the Oxford American. Comfort Suites is the Official Hotel of Ozark Foothills FilmFest.
The Savoy Family Cajun Band performance and the Les Blank film screenings are made possible by an American Masterpieces Presenting Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. American Masterpieces is a major initiative to acquaint Americans with the best of their cultural and artistic legacy.

Savoy Family Cajun Band Set for FilmFest
As part of the Ozark Foothills FilmFest, Marc and Ann Savoy and the Savoy Family Cajun Band will perform in concert at Independence Hall on the campus of the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday evening, March 27, 2010.

Ann Savoy will read from her book, Cajun Music: A Reflection of the People, at appropriate intervals during the concert. The book has been hailed as "the definitive guide to Cajun music." [ More »»»]

Download the FilmFest Podcast
Get the latest info on the 2010 Ozark Foothills FilmFest with a half-hour podcast featuring interviews, press conference, and more. [ More »»»]

“Magellan” and “Saving Willie Mae” Reviews: “Saving Willie Mae” focuses on a New Orleans Culinary Landmark and “Magellan” is included in the Ozark Foothills FilmFest’s Southern Exposures Narrative Film Showcase. [Click here for more…]