Kristen Ridgway Flores is Founder and CEO of

The Feel Good Film Festival The Feel Good Film Festival (FGFF), also known as the Sunflower Film Festival, was held annually in Hollywood, California from 2008 to 2012. The Festival was the largest of its kind showcasing American, international, independent, and family-frien ...

Hollywood, California Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...

and an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

set designer Scenic design (also known as scenography, stage design, or set design) is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but in recent years, are mostly trained ...

production designer In film and television, the production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and feelings. Wo ...

, and

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

Early life

Ms. Flores received her early theatre and acting training in Seattle, Washington, where she participated in numerous theatrical productions including " Helen Keller", "

Guys and Dolls ''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also bo ...

", " South Pacific", "

Narnia ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' is a series of seven high fantasy novels by British author C. S. Lewis. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes and originally published between 1950 and 1956, ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' has been adapted for radio, telev ...

", and "

Little Mary Sunshine ''Little Mary Sunshine'' is a musical that parodies old-fashioned operettas and musicals. The book, music, and lyrics are by Rick Besoyan. The original Off-Broadway production premiered November 18, 1959 at the Orpheum Theatre in New York Ci ...

". She continued her theatrical and acting studies in Santa Barbara,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

at the "

Westmont College Westmont College is a private Christian liberal arts college in Montecito, California. It was founded in 1937. History Ruth Kerr, owner and CEO of the Kerr Glass Manufacturing Company, established the school as the Bible Missionary Institute in ...

Theatre Arts Department" where she received her

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

and

communications Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...

degrees. Once relocating to Hollywood, she pursued a curriculum of film studies.

Film and Television

Flores contributions include

, and producer for Hollywood films and television programs, including the television comedy series, " The Playbook". Flores' first credited film in 2005 was "

West Bank Story ''West Bank Story'' is a 2005 American musical comedy short film directed by Ari Sandel, co-written by Sandel and Kim Ray, produced by Pascal Vaguelsy, Amy Kim, Ashley Jordan, Ravi Malhotra, Bill Boland, and featuring choreography by Ramon Del Bar ...

", the

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

winning, fast-paced musical comedy. In 2006-2007 Flores worked in the art department of the television series, ''

Heroes Heroes or Héroes may refer to: * Hero, one who displays courage and self-sacrifice for the greater good Film * ''Heroes'' (1977 film), an American drama * ''Heroes'' (2008 film), an Indian Hindi film Gaming * ''Heroes of Might and Magic'' ...

'', which received the 2007

Academy of Television Arts & Sciences The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), also colloquially known as the Television Academy, is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the television industry in the United States. It is a 501(c)(6) non-prof ...

nomination for the Art Director's Guild Award. From 2007 until 2010 she tried out animation at

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

on the kids' classic cartoon, "

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (or simply ''SpongeBob'') is an American animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It chronicles the adventures of the title character a ...

", a television series that has been awarded numerous primetime Emmy Awards for outstanding animated programming. In 2009, she began working as a producer in the 2009 film "Dandelion Dharma". She also produced the 2011 MTV reality television series, "Cuff’d", released August 2011.

The Feel Good Film Festival

As Flores' passion is to positively influence Hollywood, she created Hollywood's non-profit

Film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upon ...

, taking on responsibility for overall artistic direction including responsibility for film selection. The Festival premiered in August 2008, providing a prime platform for winning projects that are entertaining, optimistic, humorous or heartwarming and leave the audience feeling good. Flores' goal is to provide a film viewing experience for the entire family that encourages the development, production, and distribution of short or feature-length films with positive themes, happy endings, that make audiences laugh, and that capture the beauty of our world. She searches for newly produced American, international, independent, and family-friendly submissions from around the world and is responsible for bringing wider attention to independent filmmakers including those listed in the awards section at

. The focus is screening movies where the Festival's audience members leave the theaters feeling better than when they entered 100% of the time. To achieve this, she hunts down features with positive views on life, humor, and positive scenes where at the end of it, you’re feeling better. She created the Festival to provide audiences with laugh-out-loud comedy and ultimately for having loads of fun. The positive theme and energy of the Festival and its many high-quality films stands out amongst the sea of Los Angeles film festivals. She aims for the Festival to screen happy indie films with positive themes that lift energy levels of the audience members so they can bring that positivity back into the world they live in. "Unfortunately the news and other outlets do not focus on the `happy' ... they are used to focusing on the fear. We at FGFF hope to give an alternate view on life in media.".

Personal life

Flores is active in her community, Highland Park

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

.Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council
/ref> She and her husband, actor Dominic (Stephen) Flores, reside in Los Angeles, Highland Park, California with their daughter and three sons.

Filmography

References

External links

* *Skip Bolde
“Includes Interview with Kristen Flores at the Feel Good Film Festival”
Aug. 12. 2011 *Actors Reporter, Hosted by Brett Walkow, video and picture
“Yellow Carpet at the 4th Annual Feel Good Film Festival at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood, California”
Aug. 19, 2011. {{DEFAULTSORT:Flores, Kristen Ridgway 1982 births Actor-managers American film actresses American television actresses Actresses from Seattle Living people Westmont College alumni American women film producers Film producers from Washington (state) 21st-century American women