The 2009 Festival Communities for these festivals launched this week!

The Gasparilla Film Festival

Well respected names like Rod Lurie, Oren Koules, and Brian Goodman will add style and grace to this three-year-old festival.  The Gasparilla International Film Festival (GIFF) will kick off opening night with Nothing But The Truth, starring Kate Beckinsale, Matt Dillon, Angela Bassett and Alan Alda.  The festival will also present a lifetime achievement award to veteran actress Terry Moore.  The opening night screening and award ceremony will take place at The Tampa Theatre on Thursday, February 26, 2009 at 7:30pm.  

Incumbent President Chad Moore, an attorney with KnopikVarnerMoore said, "Doubling in size this year to a 10-day festival was risky with the economy, but we have the people, community, and the desire to do what we do best — line up wonderful films with global reach and create reasons for people to get out and have a good time." 

The festival lined up some amazing films, many of which will be Florida premieres.  Some of the featured films include Misconceptions featuring A. J. Cook, Orlando Jones, David Moscow and Sarah Carter; What Doesn’t Kill You featuring Ethan Hawke and Brian Goodman; Kassim the Dream; and II Divo. GIFF will also host the first public screening of the Steam Experiment starring Val Kilmer, Armand Assante and St. Petersburg native, Megan Brown.

The 2009 Gasparilla International Film Festival Red Carpet Opening night will take place at Tampa’s historic Tampa Theatre on Thursday, February 26th and will end on Saturday, March 7th at The Tampa Firefighters Museum. To get full details on all films and view trailers and buy tickets, visit the festival’s website at www.gasparillafilmfestival.com.

LA Comedy Shorts Festival

Sometimes when someone laughs at something short, that’s a good thing. Like L.A. Comedy Shorts– an honest to goodness film festival in the heart of Los Angeles hosting funny, short films.

Started by funny people, for funny people, the L. A. Comedy Shorts Film Festival is a four-day, non-stop celebration of comedic short films, held March 5-8, 2009 in downtown Los Angeles. The festival will introduce the newest and hottest comedic talent to the industry in a fun-packed weekend of screenings, parties, industry panels and a star-studded red carpet awards event.
“It’s crazy that comedies get treated like the red-headed stepchild of the cinema world,” comments Artistic Director Gary Anthony Williams. “If you can make a movie that’s original and entertaining, with a surprising plot and great characters and make it hilarious, too… well, that deserves an award!”

The festival will take place at the newly-renovated Downtown Independent Theatre, 251 S. Main Street, in the Barker Arts District of downtown Los Angeles.

The L.A. Comedy Shorts Film Festival is run in conjunction with the L.A. Comedy Scripts Screenplay Competition, sponsored by The Write Brothers. Over 1100 films and scripts were submitted.

Filmmakers and screenwriters will compete for over $40,000 in cash and prizes in the following categories: The Funny Or Die Best-of-Fest Grand Prize, Atom.com Best Comedy Short Film (30 minutes or less), Atomic Wedgie Best Comedy ‘Shortie’ Short (5 minutes or less), Atom.com Best Animated Comedy Short (30 minutes or less), and the Atomic Wedgie Audience Choice Award.

Visit the LA Comedy Shorts Film Festival web site or their lineup of films.