Working on the new website ...

Hello, This is a post to let you all know that the website is being updated. It's been a long time for sure and we appreciate the feedback and interest. We have a great following on the website and lots of interaction. That being said, take a look at our social media pages including Festival Twitter Feed, and our Facebook page at Fest Facebook page and the ever expanding YouTube Festival Video's and more.
Of course submissions to the festival are still on. thank you to the hundreds who have submitted to date! Regards, Benjamin F. Barnett Festival Director

Philadelphia Independent Film Festival 2012 Laurel

Official Philadelphia Independent Film Festival 2012 Laurel

Philadelphia Independent Film Festival 5 - Festival Winners 2012

Best Feature:

1^st - Things I Don’t Understand Director - Director:  David Spaltro

2^nd - Maybe Tomorrow – Director: Michael Wolfe

Honorable Mention – Santiago - Director: Felix Martinez

Best First Time Director (Feature)

Angels Around Me – Director: Stephen “Stix” Josey

Best Short:

1^st – Organized Criminal – Director: George Santini

Honorable Mention – Nausea – Director: Jeff Curren

Best Local Feature:

1^st – Benny the Bum – Director: Paul and Dan Cantagallo

Honorable Mention – The Descending – Director: Kyle Thompson

Best Local Short:

1^st - Welcome Home – Director: Danny Donnelly

Best Sci-Fi Feature

1^st – Towers – Director: Jet Wintzer

Best Sci-Fi Short

1^st –Serum – Director: Chidi Ozeih

Best Comedy Feature:

1^st Trailer Park Jesus – Director: Sean Gerowin

Best Documentary Feature:

1^st - Contradictions of Fair Hope – Director: Epatha Merkerson

2^nd – The Revolutionary - Director: Lucy Ostrander, Irv Drasnin, Don Sellers
Honorable Mention- Bailout (US) - Director Sean Fahey

Best Documentary Short:

1^st – If I Make It, I Win – Director: Roberto Ferri

Best Social Documentary:

1^st It’s A Girl Thing – Director: Shannon Silva

Best Music Documentary:

1^st – Inside the Perfect Circle: The story of Joel Thome – Director: Chris Pepino

2^nd – Diary of a Decade – Director: Jason Orr

Best Foreign Documentary

1^st – In The Name of Our Mothers (Poland) – Director: Mary Skinner

Best Foreign Feature

1^st – Duck Hunter (Italy) – Director: Edgidio Veronesi

2^nd – Zima (Germany) – Katerina Stankovic

Best Foreign Short

1^st – Ausreichend (Germany) – Director: Isabel Prahl

2^nd  - Sea Pavillion (South Africa) – Director: Todd Somodevilla

Honorable Mention – Suddenly Zinal (Iran) – Director: Navid Azed

Best Animation

1^st – Landscape (France) – Director Anabela Costa

2^nd – The Game (Poland) – Director: Marcin Janiec

Honorable Mention – O-Bon (US) – Director: Robert Kauffman

Best Music Video

1^st - Magic Sounds of Arrows (Sweden) – Director: Oskar Gullstrand

2^nd – It's Over Now - KIN4LIFE (US) - Director: Dorian G. Stone

Thank you,

Benjamin F. Barnett

Festival Director

Cost of Construction playing tonight!! Producer Flavia Colgan in attendence.

Cost of Construction

Produced by Flavia Colgan

Directed by Jordan Ehrlich

Will be playing tonight! Flavia Colgan will be in attendance.

5:30pm at the Franklin Institute

8:30pm at the First Unitarian Church (The Sanctuary)

17 people die everyday on construction sites across the country. Three OSHA officials have resigned in the past five years.  Government is stone walling efforts to remedy these preventable disasters.

Philadelphia Independent Film Festival 5 Hits Town This Week | Philadelphia Weekly

Thank you to Matt Prigge at the Philadelphia Weekly for this interesting article. Now let's get this man out to see the 101 other films on the schedule. What say you?

~ ed

Festival Closing Night Events

* 2012 Festival Closing Night Events *

Closing events occur Sunday at the First Unitarian Church!


Included with the all access pass on Sunday night is a musical performance from Harry Pussy:

Mark Feehan, former Harry Pussy guitarist, now playing solo in support of his new album "MF" being released in August. Volcanic Tongue called Feehan and his Harry Pussy bandmate Bill Orcutt, "two of the greatest six string thinkers of the modern age."


More details to follow!

True Bromance to screen at Philadelphia Independent Film Festival 5

Saturday, June 23^rd, 2012 5:15pm-7:00pm - Franklin Institute IMAX Theater

True Bromance is a unique and hilarious film, falling somewhere between the various realms of comedy, drama, documentary, and mockumentary.  It is a highly self-conscious film, and rightly so because of it’s subject, but what makes True Bromance stand out amongst many other films is it’s extremely reflexive nature.  The film places real people in fake situations, fake people in real situations, real people acting, people playing caricatures of themselves, and contains some who are completely unaware of the proverbial joke of authenticity running through the film. 

The film has a long and tortured production history, and it is frankly a miracle of the director and main actor’s focus and dedication that made the film come together.  It is also apparent that throughout the project, the film has become something quite different since it’s initial conception, and it is a great trait of the film to be so constantly changing and re-evaluating itself.  The through line of Devin Ratray attempting to find love with Condoleeza Rice holds everything together quite well, and Devin Ratray is at times absolutely brilliant, truly living the role to the point that it becomes very questionably how much he is acting and how much he is being.

The film is about love of all sorts, romantic, parental, brotherly, between friends, but it ultimately also becomes about so many other things, such as privacy, friendly advice, projection of love, rights to our own image, celebrity and it’s pitfalls, and towards the end it becomes a hilarious questioning of our own government and their responses to someone attempting to profess their love for Condi.   The various ways the film is constructed all work rather well, although the comic book interlays taken from The Hangover and the bromance subplot feel slightly added on after the fact.  But they work, and within the reappropriated media of Condi, and the back and forth between real and fake, the real significance of the film can be found.  The film is an example of the post-postmodern crisis we face in media today.  Ultimately, the film asks the question: what is truly real in our world of illusions, and what illusions in our world are as real as it gets?

- Jeff Curran for #Pi5

Posting for and about independent film in Philadelphia ... #uff

We welcome you to Philadelphia and the 5th annual Philadelphia Independent Film Festival. Thank you for attending. We hope you like the show. Please use the comment cards and or just stop an usher with your opinion. Thank you to our sponsors: Filmmakers worldwide, Empowerment Group, Adobe, UArts, Philadelphia Distillery, Philadelphia Acting Studio, and Media Bureau Network. We'll see you in the theater's. Benjamin F. Barnett Festival Director Philadelphia Independent Film Festival 5

Festival Opening Night 2012

    * 2012 Festival Opening night screenings & events: $40.00 *

See 4 films while enjoying our sponsors Philadelphia Brewing Company, Philadelphia Distilling Company, Boyds Cardinal Hollow Winery,  and other treats at the fest lounge.

Jon Sperry Art Blog: Philadelphia Weekly Cover

Jon Sperry Art Blog: Philadelphia Weekly Cover

Submit! to the 5th Annual Philadelphia Independent Film Festival

You can submit to the 5th Annual Philadelphia Independent Film Festival via Withoutabox here: Submit! #piff #Pi5 #uff Please share and pass this link on.
See you at the festival June 20 - 24, 2012! Benjamin Barnett Festival Director 5th Annual Philadelphia Independent Film Festival June 20 - 24, 2012

Submit to the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival 5 - June 20 - 24, 2012. #piff #Pi5 #uff #film

Submit to the 5th Annual Philadelphia Independent Film Festival via Withoutabox here: Submit
Please share and pass this link on. See you at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival 5 - June 20 - 24, 2012. #piff #Pi5 #uff #film

Thank you to our "Official" Philadelphia Independent Film Festival 4 Sponsors

We owe a great amount of Thank You's to the following sponsors.
We encourage you to support them:
#Pi4, #piff
Adobe Creative Suite
Franklin Institute
Empowerment Group
Media Bureau
AudreyHepburn.com
University of the Arts
buyboards.com

Media Bureau—An Artists' EcoSystem Teeming With Talent — Flourishes in NoLibs | Music | Philadelphia Weekly

Thank you to Nicole Finkbiner for taking on the task of writing about Media Bureau.

Media Bureau—An Artists' Eco-System Teeming With Talent—Flourishes in NoLibs | Music | Philadelphia Weekly

Philadelphia Independent Film Festival 2011 Award Recipients.

Thank you to all.
It takes time for us to figure out best of festival. We truly believe all movies in our fest deserve such accolades. It is also true that we screen movies for reasons other than "cinematic" appeal.

We really take a hard look at the awards.

Thank you for your patience and we are sorry for any confusion :)

If you would like a High Resolution (300 dpi) Adobe PhotoShop .psd file, please email us directly and we will send it to you.

We want to thank you all for submitting, sponsoring, and participating.

See you at #uff...

Benjamin F. Barnett
Festival Director
Philadelphia Independent Film Festival 4

Philadelphia Independent Film Festival Best of Festival recipients 2011:
Posted: v o2

Best Feature – From The Head (91min) (Comedy, Drama) Dir. George Griffith. On his third anniversary as a bathroom attendant in a New York City strip club, SHOES sees the same idiosyncratic characters that have flooded his porcelain kingdom for years. But before this shift is over, Shoes will discover that things have changed, and it’s no longer “same tits, different day.”

Honorable Mention - Rachel & Diana (76min) (Drama) Dir. Dave Janetta. "Rachel & Diana" is the story of one young woman's search for perspective and clarity in a modern, digital world. When an unexpected package arrives in the mail shedding new light on her past she takes to the highway.

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Best Political Documentary - Zielinski (66min) (Politics / Documentary) Dir. Chase Thompson / Ryan Walker. By 1983 John Zielinski was a well-known author and photographer. His work had appeared in Life Magazine, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune and countless other publications. But in a devastating 1984 contract dispute, he lost $50,000 and his professional credibility.

Honorable Mention - - A Hitler (min) The film, by writer/director Barry J. Hershey, is a phantasmagoric journey into the darkest recesses of the mind of Adolf Hitler. In a dreamlike subterranean environment removed from historical time, Adolf Hitler confronts the demons of his psyche. As he dictates his memoirs, Hitler encounters apparitions of his fiendish confidant, Joseph Goebbels; his enigmatic mistress, Eva Braun; the mastermind of his military campaigns, Hermann Goering; Jewish psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud; and a mysterious Woman in Black.

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Best Short - Bathing and the Single Girl (11min) (Underground Romance). Dir. Christine Elise McCarthy. A raw & irreverent comedic look at the unspoken horrors of dating - and bathing with - younger men.

Honorable Mention - The Pond (19min) Dir. Dan Hannon. Shelly, a young woman distraught over the death of her husband, sets about scattering his ashes on the pond in an apple orchard they had both loved. But the waters of the pond hold a secret, and when a stranger appears unexpectedly, she learns the truth about this stunning locale.

Honorable Mention - - Blink of an Eye (Augenblicke) (Germany) (19min) (Thriller). Dir. Martin Bargiel. In the middle of the night a fight between Schenker’s neighbors won’t let him rest. Half asleep his mind is playing tricks on him: constantly he awakes in different places. Now he has to face questioning by an inspector about a dead woman, and his nightmare begins.

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Best Documentary Virtual JFK - What if JFK had never been assassinated? (91min) (Documentary) Dir. Koji Masutani ’05 (Watson Visiting Fellow ) Watson Professor Jim Blight and Adjunct Associate Professor Janet M. Lang have been focusing their research on this question and on the lessons that revisiting the Vietnam War could provide for contemporary US policy.

Honorable Mention -- Schooling the World The White Mans Last Burdon (65min) (Documentary) Dir. Carol Black. If you wanted to change an ancient culture in a generation, how would you do it? You would change the way it educates it’s children.

Best Doc Short: - Voices of Sculpture (30min) (Documentary) Dir. David Steele. Featuring some of the most important and innovative sculptures and sculptors of the modern art world, Voices of Sculpture is a tour DE force documentary exploring the role and interrelationship of art, artist and observer. Set in the unique Grounds For Sculpture located near Princeton N.J., the film tells the story of Seward Johnson's founding and development of this extraordinary venue for the arts and explores the sustaining spirit that made it grow into being.

Best Real Time Documentary - Cure for the Crash - The Art of Train Hoppin (91min) (Doc / Narrative) Dir. Brian Paul Higgens. Just beyond the tracks and the world you find familiar, endures a freedom found on the edges of American excess. I traveled these outer limits via the art of hopping freight trains with a photographer named Sepher and a brave women named Ruin. We rode through mountains, over clear meadows, near hidden canyons, along sprawling farms and countless other American...


Best Music Documentary – - Meet Me on South Street - History of J. C. Dobbs (50min) (Music Documentary) Dir. George Manney. Meet Me On South Street, The Story of JC Dobbs documents, the evolution of Philadelphia's fertile music and arts subculture in the 1970's until the sad closing of JC Dobbs in 1996. Between the gritty walls and dressing room grandeur, to the mystique and dysfunctional family-like workplace, what was once the club in Philly known for live music seven nights a week, showcasing artists in the infancy of their rising careers, JC Dobbs was Philadelphia's premiere rock & roll bar!

Honorable Mention ToddStock (91min) (Music Documentary). Dir. Todd Rundgren, Ed Vigdor. Camping out at Todd’s house for his 60th birthday. Toddstock was born.

Honorable Mention - BEATBOXING - THE FIFTH ELEMENT OF HIP HOP (55m, U S A)
Dir. by Klaus Schneyder The undocumented 5th element of HipHop. Beatboxing.

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Best Comedy – - Big Guns Big Guns: (85 mins) (Comedy) Dir. Chris McDonnel. The world's worst cop gets fired and for reasons unknown becomes the target of every criminal in town. As a PI he must overcome incompetence and several character defects to solve the case and save his life.

Honorable Mention - Frontman (104min) (Comedy) Dir. Ben Hyland. When the former frontman of 'Stanley and the Knives' suddenly dies his old friends and band mates are forced back together after twenty-five years apart. Cracks soon start to appear in their relationships and it becomes clear why they split up in the first place. Frontman is a musical journey of five strangers, becoming friends for the second time.

Best Comedy Short - Gratitude (21 min) (Drama/Surreal). Dir. Cyrus Mirakhor. A harried chef learns about cooking and hard choices from a talking fish.
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Best Thriller / Crime / Drama Hamesima X (91min) (Israel) Dir. Or Yashar & Yuval Ovadia. A man is sent to Earth on a mysterious mission and caught trying to infiltrate the Mossad's most highly classified facility. During an intensive interrogation, instead of getting the information he was hoping for, the Mossad's investigator is surprised to be given mystical information and Kabalistic secrets.
Honorable Mention - Murdered - Intersecting Memoires (60min) (Crime) Dir. Terance Ross. MURDERED, intersecting memoirs is an experimental single author movie. It is a cinema/literature fusion and is part of an interactive site best experienced by going to murderedtheweb.com.


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Best Art House - Hunger (min) (Art House / Mystery) Dir. A typical dinner with friends where their secret desires are anything but. (French: Un dîner typique avec les amis où leurs désirs secrets sont tout sauf.)

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Best Foreign : Chasing Che (78m, Iran) Dir. by Alireza Rofougaran One mans journey to follow the footsteps of his hero, Che Guevera while he translates his history into Farsi.


Honorable Mention -DILLI (25m, India) Dir. by Sushmit Ghosh, Rintu Thomas. What happens when you relocate 2 million people to nowhere?

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Best Horror – Summer of Massacre. (78min) (Horror) Dir. Joe Castro. This movie is insane, actually insane is an understatement. It's a 100 MPH gore ride that never slows down. This film offers you not 1 but 8 maniacal, terrifying, relentless, and unstoppable killers. Prepare yourself for a body count so high, so bloody, so shocking, it is unlike anything have ever seen… in the history of slasher films.


Philadelphia Independent Film Festival 2011 Award Recipients.

http://PhiladelphiaIndependentFilmFestival.com

725 N. 4th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19123
215 592-1242

http://Twitter.com/PhilaIndie



Thank you!

Festival goers - CONTACT INFORMATION for this years 2011 Philadelphia Independent Film Festival.

Thank you for all of your input and comments!

Please follow along with festival happenings and discussions at the following networks:

Twitter: http://Twitter.com/PhilaIndie

Facebook: GROUP - Fest GROUP on Facebook

Facebook: PAGE - Fest PAGE on Facebook

ALL festival venues: Box Office Phone # 215 592-1242 (except Franklin Institute)

Franklin Institute Box Office Phone # 215 448-1254

Franklin Institute festival listings: Franklin Institute screening listings

Thank you! See you at the Screenings.

COMEDY ...... Philadelphia Independent Film Festival 4, June 22-26. #piff4 #Pi4 COMEDY ......

COMEDY ...... Philadelphia Independent Film Festival 4, June 22-26. #piff4 #Pi4 COMEDY ......

}-------> Raven Lounge <-------{

1718 Sansom Street Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215) 840-3577

(limited seating!)

[[[ Thursday 23rd ]]]

*** Big Guns - 7pm - 9pm

When the world's worst cop is fired he becomes the world's worst private detective. For reasons unknown he finds himself the target of every criminal in town. He must overcome his incompetence and several character defects to solve the case and save his life.

[[[ Friday 24th ]]]

*** Tell your Friends - The Concert Movie ... 6pm - 7:30pm

This is the story of indie comedy in New York City; like classic rock films 'Woodstock' and 'The Last Waltz,' it tells the story of not just a show, but a scene--a generation of comedians who honed their craft in the bars, rock clubs, and little black box theatres outside the mainstream comedy club circuit.

*** Front Man 7:45 - 9:30pm

A Comedy about struggling with Life,

Coping with Death, and playing soft rock along the way.

[[[ Saturday 25th ]]]

*** (Short Collection # ) 6pm - 7pm

... ladies and gentlemen

jordan rock - 40min

This is a glimpse into the world of 20 year old stand-up comedian jordan rock.a georgetown, sc native, following in the footsteps of his older brothers chris and tony (and cousin sherrod) is the ultimate challenge.Can he find his voice and make a name for himself on the new york comedy scene?

... Alienate - 12min

After his race has crash landed on Earth, Harry finds himself in a new and confusing world. As he struggles between assimilating with daily human life and maintaining the distinctions of his people, Harry finds himself feeling like a fish out of water.

... Bull Fighting - 3 min

You guessed it!

7:15pm - 9pm ... PlayStation Killed the Puppet

Imagine a world with puppets and humans co-existing. America's society is used as a template and is spoofed in this film.

}-------> Franklin Institute <-------{

The Franklin Institute Science Museum is located in Center City Philadelphia, at the intersection of 20th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The Box Office # for all Franklin Institute screenings is: 215-448-1254.

[[[ Thursday 23rd ]]]

Tell Your Friends - The Concert Movie (IMAX)

This is the story of indie comedy in New York City; like classic rock films 'Woodstock' and 'The Last Waltz,' it tells the story of not just a show, but a scene--a generation of comedians who honed their craft in the bars, rock clubs, and little black box theatres outside the mainstream comedy club circuit.

[[[ Saturday 25th ]]]

Big Guns (IMAX) - Police gone wrong.

When the world's worst cop is fired he becomes the world's worst private detective. For reasons unknown he finds himself the target of every criminal in town. He must overcome his incompetence and several character defects to solve the case and save his life.

COMEDY ......

Philadelphia Independent Film Festival 4, June 22-26. #piff4 #Pi4

COMEDY ......

Festival 4 x 6 card. Posted 05 27 2011

We have attached a quick card for you to download:

Philadelphia Independent Film Festival 4 Laurel - We rest on this, so please post it.

Attached is the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival 4 Laurel as a .jpeg.


May you live long and prosper. Always.


Philadelphia Independent Film Festival 4
June 22 - 26, 2011

Welcome! The decisions have been finalized. We will contact you all in the afternoon. Check WAB, email or call the studio at: 215 -592-1242.

We want to thank the film makers from all over the world who submitted this year. We say this every year, but it holds true, hearing your stories over the months has proven to be as rewarding as ever and is a Fest in itself. Thank you to the underground film forum #uff, underground film guild #ufg, and the Media Bureau for the platform.

14 screenings at the Franklin Institute are on tap. Media Bureau, Cafe Treece, Raven Comedy club, and the Random Tea Room round out the screening rooms. We will post the screening schedule this Thursday, May 26.

Please send in Fest screening copies now!

The Film makers lounge is open June 14th and tickets go on sale May 29th. Tickets are $8 and $10. Opening night, June 22 and closing night June 26, are $20. Please purchase early and support Independent Film Making.

Thank you from everybody at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival 4.

See you at the Fest June 22-26.

Benjamin Barnett
Festival Director