The Santa Monica Film Festival & Moxie Awards is an annual film series and awards show held in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing t ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

History

The Santa Monica Film Festival & Moxie Awards was created by Albert Birdie deQuay, also known as Birdie deQuay, in 1997. In 2001, deQuay decided to focus exclusively on his activities with New Media Agency in

Venice Beach Venice is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, when it was annexed by ...

, and handed all festival management activities to

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

-based non-profit group Deep Ellum Film Festival, until it was later dissolved in 2003. Its unique format ran throughout the year screening films every third Thursday as part of their X Series at the Aero Theatre and the Laemmle Monica 4-Plex, both in

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to i ...

. The films were voted on by the audiences, then later awarded the Moxie Award at an annual week-long award ceremony called the MOXIE Awards. During the Moxie Awards, the Santa Monica Film Festival honored entertainers such as

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery fictio ...

, (who attended the Sci-Fi themed ceremony on 2000),

Ray Harryhausen Raymond Frederick Harryhausen (June 29, 1920 – May 7, 2013) was an American-British animator and special effects creator who created a form of stop motion model animation known as "Dynamation". His works include the animation for '' Mi ...

and Forrest J. Ackerman. The Under the Stars Summer Series included summer night film exhibitions at venues such as

Bergamot Station Bergamot Station Arts Center is a Santa Monica facility housing many different private art galleries and appears in most tourist guides as a primary cultural destination. Opened September 17, 1994 as Bergamot Station the campus-like complex is ...

and Santa Monica Pier. Films shown included classics such as “Nuovo Cinema Paradiso” and “ Grease” projected in their original format. Proceeds went to benefit the Santa Monica Art Museum charity. Past participating filmmakers included Spike Jonze,

Gore Verbinski Gregor Justin "Gore" Verbinski (born March 16, 1964) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and musician. He is best known for directing '' The Ring'', the ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' films, and '' Rango''. He won the Academy Awar ...

, Jason Reitman,

Dennis Franz Dennis Franz Schlachta (; born October 28, 1944), known professionally as Dennis Franz, is an American retired actor best known for his role as NYPD Detective Andy Sipowicz in the ABC television series ''NYPD Blue'' (1993–2005), a role that e ...

, and

Joe Mantegna Joseph Anthony Mantegna (, ; born November 13, 1947) is an American actor. Mantegna began his career on stage in 1969 in the Chicago production of the musical ''Hair''. He earned a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play and a Joseph Jeff ...

. In 2004, a Santa Monica based non-profit launched Santa Monica Film Festival, an annual film festival focused on emerging artists, and a new website.

References

External links

FacebookIndie film festival DNASanta Monica Film Festival Website
Film festivals in California Cinema of Southern California Tourist attractions in Santa Monica, California Film festivals established in 1997 Recurring events disestablished in 2001 1997 establishments in California 2001 disestablishments in California {{US-film-festival-stub