NFFTY 2013

Wanted to remind everyone that the National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY) is coming up fast. It's scheduled to be held April 25th-28th at SIFF Cinema and the world renowned Cinerama. I've sung the praises of NFFTY before - and it's worth reminding people that while the talent contributing to the festival isn't that old their skills are often way ahead of their calendar ages.

I was lucky enough to preview eleven of the short films that will screen during the festival. While I certainly liked some more then others the quality of all of them was pretty top notch. The four day festival has shorts packages broken down into themes with at least one bound to appeal to almost any cinema lover. From comedy to horror to action shorts NFFTY has the based covered. Passes are available for a day or the entire festival. And of course individual tickets are on sale as well. It's a good time and a great cause.

If you're wondering my favorites included Tina for President, Dewey: The Musical and 80's Fitness. The first two taking very different approaches to student elections, the third a crazy musical/animated/bloody battle between rival aerobics groups that would be at home at Fantastic Fest. Each of which would've wowed me at any festival I regularly attend.

The NFFTY motto of "Film Starts Here" is well deserved. Hope to see everyone there!

LARGEST FILM FESTIVAL featuring the next generation of filmmakers ANNOUNCES 2013 LINEUP

NFFTY Films Show Worldwide Trends As Young Filmmakers Become The Voice OfA Generation

SEATTLE – The National Film Festival forTalented Youth (NFFTY), the largest youth film festival in the world, todayannounced the lineup for its 2013 Festival, which will be held April 25-28,2013 in Seattle, Washington. Out of nearly 700 entries worldwide, programmersselected 215 films to screen during the 4-day festival. The films of NFFTY 2013represent 30 U.S. States and 20 Countries, all from the future generation oftalented directors aged 22 and under. “These are truly the Oscar winners and industryleaders of tomorrow. Imagine if you could have met Spielberg or Bigelow at 19,that’s NFFTY,” said NFFTY Artistic Director Jesse Harris.

Now in its seventh year, NFFTY hascontinued to grow year-after-year. Festival audiences are continuously exposedto insights of today’s youth. “The films of NFFTY 2013 represent the voice of thisgeneration. But they also show us how closely connected and similar theyouth of the world really are. Despitecultural and geographic differences, we see similarities in the stories theseyoung filmmakers tell,” Harris comments.

NFFTYis also seeing a trend in an increased number of female directors. Over 40percent of the films this year are from female directors, well above the Hollywoodfilm industry average of 10 percent.

Morethan 10,000 attendees are expected, including young directors from Egypt,Greece, Iceland, Denmark, the UK, and more. The entirelineup of films, events and panels can be seen at: http://www.nffty.org/schedule-2013