Phoenix Film Festival is a festival that celebrates

feature films A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

and their creators. Started in 2000, the annual celebration takes place in the city of

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

. The festival is a showcase for feature and short films from all over the world.

History

With the idea of starting a festival by filmmakers for filmmakers in Arizona, independent filmmakers Golan Ramras and

Chris LaMont Chris LaMont is a screenwriter, independent filmmaker, and film professor, who co-founded the Phoenix Film Festival in 2000. He has written and co-written several feature films, including ''The Inheritance ', The Locksmith, '' The Au Pair Nightm ...

started the festival in 2000 with the help of Program Director Greg Hall and World Cinema Director Slobodan Popovic. Jason Carney has been the Festival Director since 2004. The Festival is run under the auspices of the 501(c)3 non-profit Phoenix Film Foundation. The Phoenix Film Festival is now the largest attended festival in Arizona. In 2013 it had 23,000 attendees. The festival has hosted many notable members of the film industry such as

Kevin Bacon Kevin Norwood Bacon (born July 8, 1958) is an American actor. His films include the musical-drama film '' Footloose'' (1984), the controversial historical conspiracy legal thriller '' JFK'' (1991), the legal drama '' A Few Good Men'' (1992), t ...

Kyra Sedgwick Kyra Minturn Sedgwick (; born August 19, 1965) is an American actress, producer and director. For her starring role as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson on the TNT crime drama ''The Closer'', she won a Golden Globe Award in 2007 and an Emmy Awa ...

Laurence Fishburne Laurence John Fishburne III (born July 30, 1961) is an American actor. He is a three time Emmy Award and Tony Award winning actor known for his roles on stage and screen. He has been hailed for his forceful, militant, and authoritative charact ...

Tom Arnold Tom Arnold may refer to: * Tom Arnold (actor) (born 1959), American actor * Tom Arnold (economist) (born 1948), Irish CEO of Concern Worldwide * Tom Arnold (footballer) (1878–?), English footballer * Tom Arnold (literary scholar) (1823–1900), ...

and

Danny Trejo Danny Trejo ( ; born May 16, 1944) is an American actor. He has appeared in films including ''Desperado'', ''Heat'', and the ''From Dusk Till Dawn'' film series. With frequent collaborator and his second cousin Robert Rodriguez, he portrayed ...

, as well as filmmakers

Don Roos Donald Paul Roos (born April 14, 1955) is an American screenwriter and film director. Life and career Roos was born in upstate New York into a conservative Roman Catholic family of mostly Irish descent. He attended the University of Notre Dame i ...

and

Ken Kwapis Kenneth William Kwapis (born August 17, 1957) is an American film and television director, screenwriter, and author. He specialized in the single-camera sitcom in the 1990s and 2000s and has directed feature films such as '' Sesame Street Presen ...

, and featured the premieres of '' Happy Endings'', ''

Mad Hot Ballroom ''Mad Hot Ballroom'' is a 2005 American documentary film directed and co-produced by Marilyn Agrelo and written and co-produced by Amy Sewell, about a ballroom dance program in the New York City Department of Education, the New York City public ...

'' and ''

Loverboy Loverboy is a Canadian rock band formed in 1979 in Calgary, Alberta. Loverboy's hit singles, particularly " Turn Me Loose" and "Working for the Weekend", have become arena rock staples and are still heard on many classic rock and classic hits r ...

''.

Past winners

Feature film

* 2013 ** ''Putzel'' (Best Picture) ** ''

The Story of Luke ''The Story of Luke'' is a 2012 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Alonso Mayo. It is Mayo's first feature-length film and tells the story of Luke, a young man with autism who embarks on a quest for a job and a girlfriend. It s ...

'' (Special Jury Prize) * 2012 – ''Shuffle'' * 2011 ** ''

A Little Help ''A Little Help'' is a 2010 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Michael J. Weithorn. It follows the experiences of a dental hygienist following her unfaithful husband's sudden death. It debuted on May 21, 2010 at the Seattle Interna ...

'' (Best Picture) ** '' As If I Am Not There'' (Best World Cinema Feature) * 2010 – ''The Rivals'' * 2009 – ''Lightbulb'' * 2008 – ''Take'' * 2007 – ''

Little Chenier ''Little Chenier'' is a 2006 American drama film directed by Bethany Ashton Wolf and written by Jace Johnson and Wolf. It is set in the bayous of Louisiana, and stars Johnathon Schaech, Frederick Koehler, Tamara Braun, Jeremy Davidson, Clifton Co ...

'' * 2006 – '' Andrew Jenks, Room 335'' * 2005 – '' Checking Out'' * 2004 – ''

Break a Leg "Break a leg" is a typical English idiom used in the context of theatre or other performing arts to wish a performer "good luck". An ironic or non-literal saying of uncertain origin (a dead metaphor), "break a leg" is commonly said to actors a ...

'' * 2003 – ''

Melvin Goes to Dinner ''Melvin Goes to Dinner'' is a 2003 American film adaptation of Michael Blieden's stage play ''Phyro-Giants!'', directed by Bob Odenkirk. Blieden wrote the screenplay from his stage play, and he also stars in the film (as he did in the Los Angel ...

'' * 2002 – ''

Do It for Uncle Manny Do, DO or D.O. may refer to: Languages * The English verb, ''do'', which may serve as an auxiliary verb; see do-support * ''Do'' (kana), a mora symbol in Japanese writing * Ditto mark People * Đỗ, a Vietnamese surname * Do (surname), include ...

'' * 2001 – '' Middlemen''

References

External links

*
Google News Results for Search "Phoenix Film Festival"

Phoenix Film Festival
at the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

{{coord, 33.6584, -111.9325, display=title, region:US Festivals in Phoenix, Arizona Film festivals in Arizona Film festivals established in 2000 Tourist attractions in Phoenix, Arizona 2000 establishments in Arizona