User:Janet Steiner/sandbox

Festival History

Bucks Fever FilmFest was born in 1999 at a planning meeting of the Bucks Fever Advisory Council of the Central Bucks Chamber of Commerce. At that meeting, Chamber member Jon Wilner (formerly of the Delaware Valley Arts Institute), suggested that we add a contemporary art form of growing interest in Bucks County, a Film Festival, to the then 25-year-old Bucks Fever, Celebration of the Arts Program. FilmFest would encourage and support the growth of a filmmaking community by providing a venue to view the works of area professional and student filmmakers.

Key to the concept was a partnership with the County Theater, the independent movie theater in downtown Doylestown, Pennsylvania that had sparked a revitalization of Doylestown and built a strong interest in films and filmmaking in the community. The County Theater’s founder and Executive Director, John Toner and his Manager, Jim Sanders, agreed to collaborate with the Chamber and FilmFest in providing the screening venue for the films, because of FilmFest’s mission to provide a mentoring and learning experience with rising area student filmmakers, along with adult and professional filmmakers.

The first FilmFest was held in September of 2000 and featured a screening of the Academy Award winning “The Buddy Holly Story”, introduced and followed by a panel discussion with the producers, director, and musical director, all of whom are Bucks County residents.

In July 2002, the first juried, short film and video FilmFest was opened up to the filmmaking community, receiving 29 submissions from student and independent filmmakers, from which 15 short films/videos were selected and screened at the County Theater to overflow audiences. In each of the ensuing annual FilmFests, the number and the quality of submissions have increased. In addition to having their work screened publicly in a movie theater setting, winning filmmakers are given the opportunity to have their films aired on Xfinity On Demand Get Local throughout the Philadelphia area, thereby greatly expanding their viewing audience.

Over the years, FilmFest has added seminars directed primarily at young filmmakers on subjects ranging from film financing, auditions, and script writing. Past seminar presenters include Mike Lemon of Mike Lemon Casting, James Breckinridge, script and screenplay writer, Fred Bauer, Producer of “The Buddy Holly Story,” and Mac Outfitters.

FilmFest hosted the first-ever Awards Night at the Mercer Museum in October of 2008. Awards Night is an annual networking opportunity for filmmakers and the central Bucks County business community. Filmmakers, along with their family, friends, and film enthusiasts from all walks of life, attend this event to hear the winners of the upcoming festival announced live. In 2013, a scriptwriting contest was added.

In 2015, FilmFest celebrated 15 years of supporting filmmakers in the community. To mark this occasion, FilmFest announced a partnership with Calkins Media and the addition of a sixth festival category, “Newsies,” which will include short news-video-style featurettes that highlight important stories in the Delaware Valley community.

Winning Films

'''2015

Best of Fest'''

Frog - Tyler Wallach

Winners

High School Narrative - A Day in the Life of a Dollar - Erin Cicchitti

College Narrative - Transcriber - Mark Partridge

College Experimental - Soft Shoe - Sammi Begelman

College Animation - Maggie's Life - Allison Buhl

Emerging Narrative - A Slice of Life - Philip G. Carroll, Jr.

Honorable Mentions

High School - Animation - Jurassic Egg - CCATE College Narrative - Baby Steps - Chike Nwabukwu College Narrative - The Amazing Rondini - Peter Moller & Jared Hirsch College Animation - Da Funk - Michael Green College Animation - No Skin Man - Mark Pappajohn College Animation - Little Buggies - Kaitlyn Graziano College Animation - The Man Who Lives on a Hill - Jacqueline Bauwens College Experimental - Continuity Drama - Justin Asaraf

Chamber's Choice'''

College Documentary - Bucks County: Sites Along the Delaware River - Maura Finegan

'''2014

Best of Fest'''

G.H.O.S.T. - Connor Griffin

'''Winners ''' High School Documentary - It Could Happen to You - Shana Langley

High School Narrative - The Art of Deception - Middle Bucks Institute of Technology

High School Music Video - Together - Kostas Panagiotakis

High School Experimental - Ignotum - Frankie Mullnix

College Animation - Midnight Snack - David Romeo

College Narrative - How I Won the War - Philip G. Carroll, Jr.

Emerging Documentary - Ciao, Calzolaio! (Hello, Shoemaker!) - Vince Caperelli, Jr.

Emerging Narrative - Thursday Afternoon - Philip Jampo

'''Honorable Mentions ''' High School Documentary - White House Film Fest - Middle Bucks Institute of Technology

High School Narrative - The Orphanage - CCATE

College Narrative - Derailed - Devynne Lauchner

College Animation - Dust with Flour - Annelise Williams

Emerging Documentary - Three Artists: The Sculptor. The Painter. The Performer.