Deadline drawing near for filmmakers of the future  Attention, future Spielbergs, Scorseses and Soderberghs.The deadline is drawing near for the youth-only portion of the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival.Entries for the festival’s Filmmakers of Tomorrow Showcase are due Jan. 15, 2009.The short films can cover any subject or style. However, they must be G or PG-rated, less than 30 minutes in length and made by filmmakers ranging in age from kindergarten kid to high school senior.This year, entries will fall into three categories: primary (kindergarten through sixth grade), middle school (seventh and eighth grades) and high school (ninth through 12 grade). All ages are eligible for $50 cash prizes awarded to Best Short Feature, Best Short Film and Best SLO County Film. Sweet!All of the entries will be shown at the Filmmakers of Tomorrow Showcase – Sunday, March 8 in San Luis Obispo. The event will also feature short films made by the participants of summer filmmaking workshops sponsored by the film festival and the Holser Educational Fund for the Performing Arts. You can learn more about the youth film competition here or just fill out the entry form. Good luck! 

ShareThis

Comedic great Buster Keaton tries to save train, girl in “The General”

Silent movie buffs are in for a rare treat this weekend.

On Saturday, moviegoers are invited to attend a special screening of Buster Keaton’s classic comedy “The General” – complete with live organ music. It’s a fundraiser for the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival.

Buster Keaton stars as Johnnie Gray, a Southern train engineer passionately dedicated to two loves: the steam engine known as The General and his girl, Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack).

When the Civil War breaks out, Johnnie is the first in line at the recruitment office. He’s turned away, presumably because he’s more valuable as an engineer than a soldier. Unfortunately, Annabelle interprets this as cowardice and gives our hero the cold shoulder.

His chance for redemption comes when Union spies steal the train and, in the course of the robbery, kidnap Annabelle. It’s up to Johnnie to rescue his fiancee, his locomotive and the hopes of the Confederate Army of Tennessee.

Buster “Stone Face” Keaton manages to keep his famous deadpan through a series of hilarious comic pratfalls, each grander and more ingenious than the last.

Ranked No. 18 on the American Film Institute’s “100 Greatest Movies of All Time,” “The General” has scores of fans among film buffs and movie critics. In fact, many consider the comedy one of the best silent films ever made — and Keaton’s masterpiece.

“The General” will be screened at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Christopher Cohan Center, part of the Performing Arts Center at 1 Grand Ave. in San Luis Obispo.

The event kicks off with a Charlie Chaplin short, “The Immigrant” Music by The Candle Light Strings, led by violinist Bette Byers of Santa Maria, accompanies the film.

Silent film organist Bob Mitchell will provide the soundtrack for “The General” on the PAC’s state-of-the-art Forbes Pipe Organ. Still going strong at age 96, he performed here last year at a screening of “The Phantom of the Opera.”

Admission is $23 a person, with ticket sales benefiting the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival. For tickets, call 756-2787 or visit the PAC’s online box office.

***

Hikers, hunters, mountain bikers and tree huggers will want to check out the first local screening of the Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival.

It’s Saturday at the Performing Arts Center in San Luis Obispo.

Hosted by Los Padres ForestWatch, a non-profit community organization based in Santa Barbara, the festival features a number of environmentally-minded short films about issues like alternative fuels, water quality and wilderness preservation. Filmmakers invite the audience to watch a photographer and his family explore organic farming, frolic with fishes and playful pooches, and witness the threats to local watersheds and the American West.

The journey starts tonight at 7 p.m. at Spanos Theatre, 1 Grand Ave. in San Luis Obispo.

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the door or in advance via the PAC (756-2787, www.pacslo.org). Proceeds go to Los Padres ForestWatch and its efforts to preserve and restore the Los Padres National Forest.

To learn more about the film festival and its history, click here.

ShareThis

Sorry, “Easy Rider” fans.

Peter Fonda has canceled his appearance at the Avila Beach Music Festival on Tuesday, June 10.

No specific reason was given for Fonda’s absence. He was slated to act as master of ceremonies for the concert, which features rock supergroup Crosby, Stills and Nash.

Peter Fonda last visited the Central Coast in March when he was honored at the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival.

Fonda, star of “Easy Rider” and “Ulee’s Gold,” received the King Vidor Career Achievement Award, named after the prolific director of “War and Peace” (and former SLO County resident). It honors excellence in filmmaking.

ShareThis

Is your kid the next Steven Spielberg? Soderbergh? Sayles?

Young filmmakers have a chance to learn the craft this summer with a two-week workshop organized by the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival.

Organizers will offer classes from July 14 to 24, thanks to a grant from the San Luis Obispo County Community Foundation.

“Young people are so inventive and have a different take on the world than adults do, so we are hoping to give them the skills they need to go out and make their own films,” said Wendy Eidson, the film festival’s executive director. “We are trying to encourage collaboration so that they learn how a ‘real’ film is made.”

Each workshop will be limited to ten young people. They’ll learn the basics of filmmaking by writing, producing, directing, editing and acting in their own short films, Eidson said.
The results will be screened for family and friends on the final day of the workshop. Audiences can also catch the short films at next year’s San Luis Obispo International Film Festival.

Two local filmmakers will lead the classes.

Aaron Metchik, a UCLA film school graduate, directed his first professional feature-length film this summer.

Alan Fraser teaches video production and photography at Arroyo Grande High School, and film courses at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria. His feature film “Next Time” won best picture awards at the Hollywood and Long Beach Film Festivals.

Each session costs $200, with a limited number of half-tuition scholarships available.

Kids entering grades 3 to 6 will attend class from 9 a.m. to noon, Monday through Thursday.

Those entering grades 7 to 9 have class from 1 to 4 p.m., Monday through Thursday. And future 10th, 11th and 12th graders will attend workshops at 6 to 9 p.m., Monday through Thursday.

For more information or to register, visit www.slofilmfest.org or call Wendy Eidson at (805) 546-3456.

ShareThis

“Easy Rider” star Peter Fonda must dig “the SLO life.”

The Oscar-nominated actor will act as master of ceremonies this summer at the Avila Beach Music Festival, organizers announced Wednesday.

Classic rockers Crosby, Stills and Nash will perform at the June 10 concert, which benefits local non-profit OPTIONS. The group works with people with disabilities.

It’s Fonda’s second visit to the Central Coast this year.

In March, Fonda, 68, appeared at the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival to accept the King Vidor Career Achievement Award. (Named after former county resident King Vidor, the prolific director of “War and Peace,” it honors excellence in filmmaking.)

Part of the famed acting family that includes father Henry, daughter Bridget, and sister Jane Fonda, Peter Fonda’s recent films include “Ghost Rider,” “Wild Hogs,” and “3:10 to Yuma.”

David Crosby presented the award to Fonda and shared stories about his Hollywood pal. He spent most of the presentation raving about 1969’s “Easy Rider.”

“This film changed everything,” Crosby said. “Every young person in America saw this film, without exception, and it changed all of us. I know it (changed) myself.”

In fact, Crosby said, he and his band mates in Crosby, Stills and Nash passed up a chance to do the soundtrack to “Easy Rider” — opting to work on their first, self-titled album instead.

“Peter is quite a man who has had quite an impact on the film industry,” Crosby said.

***

Crosby, Stills and Nash perform June 10 at the Avila Beach Golf Resort, 6464 Anna Bay Rd. in Avila Beach. Gates open at 5 p.m., with the concert starting at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $65 to $95, available via Vallitix.

For more information, call (805) 772-6066, ext. 101, or visit www.avilabeachmusicfestival.org.

***

The above photo is by Tribune photographer Jayson Mellom. Pictured are rock musician David Crosby (left) and actor Peter Fonda.

ShareThis