I've already mentioned Eric Byler's "United For Obama" YouTube Channel, and just received this press release today from the Impact Film Festival.* * *
The power of film to enlighten and educate on the critical issues facing our nation's leaders will be on full display this summer as Democrats and Republicans convene for the national conventions. The Impact Film Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit announced today that it is bringing filmmakers to Denver and Minneapolis this summer as part of the Impact Film Festival ("IFF") to screen a series of topical documentaries and narratives for lawmakers, candidates and delegates to the conventions. In addition to screenings, each film will have a panel discussion featuring members of the filmmaking community alongside policy makers and other issue experts during the daytime hours of the convention, for lively and important discussions.
"The political conventions are an excellent opportunity to bring the two communities together and elevate some of the films that are dealing with our most important issues," said Jody Arlington, one of the Festival's three co-founders. "We are particularly pleased to be partnering with the Screen Actors Guild in a salute to the artists that bring these stories to light."
IFF will program new films on the Festival circuit that explore key domestic and international priorities that correlate to relevant social issues being discussed at each convention. The films will rally leaders and citizens attending the conventions, the private sector and the film community to engage in nuanced discussions about these important issues.
IFF's programming will be done by a committee of festival programmers and industry visionaries through a recommendation process that ensures IFF-goers are seeing the best films. Programmers for Toronto, Sundance, Independent Film Project (IFP) Tribeca, Los Angeles Film Festival and many others will nominate their selections as will the key doc acquirers for POV, Netflix and others.
In addition to the feature films, IFF will show shorts from the Denver Film Society and Denver Office of Cultural Affairs, "Cinemocracy" online film contest, seeking films defining the meaning of democracy. IFF will also show winners from the 2008 FYI-Film Your Issue online film contest. FYI-Film Your Issue is a two minute online film contest for young people age 14-24 to make films on issues most important to them.
In addition to the day-time screenings, Impact Film Festival will host late night parties at both conventions celebrating the filmmakers and a salute to the Screen Actors Guild.
