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OCTOBER 1 - 8, 2009

About the Tacoma Film Festival

The Grand Cinema is proud to present the 4th Annual Tacoma Film Festival! The event was founded three years ago on the idea that new, local and emerging filmmakers should be given the opportunity to have their work, of all genres, shown before an audience. We are happy to be able to present a wide range of such movies for Tacoma to see, most for the first time ever. The Festival as a whole aims to sustain the cultural and artistic vitality of the Puget Sound region, recognizing local and independent film talent. The focus of the festival is on art house, foreign language, independent, documentary and numerous shot films. We play films from all over the world but particularly want to encourage filmmakers from the Pacific Northwest to submit films. Most of all, we want our audiences to enjoy what they see, but we also want fellow filmmakers to see work that motivates them as well. The Tacoma Film Festival emphasizes the filmmakers themselves, and want to show your work to an interested audience and show you a great time in Tacoma, WA.

The primary host, The Grand Cinema (grandcinema.com) is a strong regional art-house movie theater. It works hand-in-hand with the festival to promote your film, help filmmakers throughout the year and when possible, play your film for a theatrical run following the festival.

Fee structure and Deadlines:

Deadline: Feature Film:
Short Film:
Student rate (with current ID):
#1: March 30, 2009
$30
$20
$20
#2: April 30
$40
$30
$25
#3: May 30
$50
$35
$30
#4 and final: June 30
$75
$50
$40

For more info, and to submit your film to the Tacoma Film Festival:



2008 Festival Recap:

From Tacoma News Tribune:

 

Documentaries, short drama win Tacoma Grandies

SOREN ANDERSEN; soren.andersen@thenewstribune.com

 

And the Grandie goes to …


Three documentaries and a dramatic short film.


Hollywood has its Oscar. The Tacoma Film Festival has its Grandie, named after the Grand Cinema, the festival’s headquarters. On Thursday night the festival honored its top films in an awards ceremony at the Temple Theatre attended by around 100 movie lovers. The event wrapped up the third annual edition of the fest, which began Oct. 2.


The best documentary prize went to the opening-night film “On Paper Wings.” It tells the tale of a little-known episode from World War II in which the Japanese military attempted to attack the U.S. mainland with bombs attached to large balloons made out of a special kind of paper. It was made by Portland-based filmmaker Ilana Sol.


Another documentary, “Memorize-you-saw-it,” won the Grandie in the best local film category. Made by Jon Betz, who is also based in the Portland area, it chronicled his experiences as a college student working with a U.S. aid agency at an orphanage in Uganda.


The winner in the best short film category was a 13-minute minidrama titled “Verlaine,” about a man on the run who wants to hide out under a new identity.


All three films were selected by members of the staff of the Grand Cinema and its board of directors.


The audience had its say in the audience award category, and it spoke loud and clear. Moviegoers voted “Wiener Takes All: A Dogumentary” as the festival’s top dog by a wide margin, said Grand Cinema executive director Philip Cowan, the festival’s chief programmer. The hilarious documentary about the odd world of dachshund racing sold out two scheduled screenings at the Grand, which prompted Cowan to add a third showing Tuesday night.


More than 80 films were screened during the weeklong event, with documentaries and short films making up the bulk of pictures on the program.


For a complete list of movies that played, visit: http://tacoma.bside.com/2008/ 

To see Executive Director Philip Cowan's Top 10 Films not to miss, visit this page.

2008 Tacoma Film Festival t-shirts are still available - Click here to learn more!

The News Tribune's preview of the 2008 Tacoma Film Festival - 9/26/08

The Tacoma Weekly's coverage of the 2008 Tacoma Film Festival - 10/2/08

The Weekly Volcano's cover story of the 2008 Tacoma Film Festival - 10/2/08

Thank you to our supporting sponsors:


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