International Fest of Cinema and Technology

December 6th-8th, 2007
Tickets $6 per screening session, ($3 students admission)

Website: http://www.ifct.org/jax.html
Contact Festival: admin@ifct.org
Venue phone number (904) 353-6002
Location The Rusted Hinge Theatre at 9th and Main (1850 N Main St)
Short Description: The International Fest of Cinema and Technology will present a selection of independent films from across the globe
The International Fest of Cinema and Technology Announces Jacksonville, Florida Event


FESTIVAL OVERVIEW

November 16th, 2007 The International Fest of Cinema and Technology (IFCT) announces an upcoming festival event scheduled to take place December 6th-8th in Jacksonville, Florida. Festival screenings include short comedies, dramas, animated films, experimental films, music videos and documentaries and are from independent filmmakers from a variety of countries. All festival screenings will be taking place in historic Springfield in Jacksonville at the Rusted Hinge at 9th and Main. Specific details about all the films screenings and the festival schedule can be found at the festival website www.ifct.org.

The Rusted Hinge at 9th and Main is a ideal location for the festival because of the venue's unique film history. Moviemakers in the early 20th century were drawn to Jacksonville as its winter headquarters because of the warm weather the city offered. In fact the city had the title "The Winter Film Capital of the World." Much of this film production was centered in Springfield in Jacksonville, Florida. Many silent films including those starring Laurel and Hardy and Charlie Chaplin were created at 9th and Main, which is the very location of this upcoming festival event. The Int'l Fest of Cinema and Technology, a festival which focuses on moviemaking technology and innovation, is pleased to be taking place in one of the early filmmaking capitals of the US.

During the festival, 9th and Main will have a full bar open which will be serving drinks during the festival screenings. Festival attendees will have the benefit of receiving half-off regular drink prices when presenting their festival ticket stubs. On Friday December 7th, the festival evening will not only feature film screenings but also free live music during the festival taking place from 6pm-10pm. Music performances on December 7th will be by local artists John Citrone and Ed Cotton. The art gallery at 9th and Main will be open throughout the festival showcasing works by local visual artists.Scott Abrams at 9th and Main says "The Rusted Hinge at 9th & Main is proud to support new filmmaking talent as we continue to encourage art and diversity."

The films to be screened are highlighted selections from the IFCT 2007 Touring Festival Events. IFCT 2007 festival events this year took place in New York, Melbourne, Los Angeles, London, Burlington, Vermont, London Washington, DC and The Philippines. The International Fest of Cinema and Technology has been presenting touring film festival events since 2002. The IFCT World Tour is designed to give exposure to independent films many of which previously had been underexposed to the public. The festival's motto is it seeks to "discover the undiscovered film." The "technology" in the festival's name occurs both in the content of the festival, which tends to focus on themes of technology or feature unique creation techniques, as well as in the method of showcasing content at the events.

The International Fest of Cinema and Technology event will give Floridians a unique and exciting chance to view the best of independent cinema originating from a wide variety of countries. Festival selections to be screened in Jacksonville include movies from the United States, the UK, Germany, Israel, Mexico, France, Bulgaria, Sweden, Switzerland, Greece, Canada, Brazil, Peru, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, The Netherlands, among many other countries.



FILM SCREENINGS

Among the festival selections are many notable independent films making their Florida premieres. The festival December 6th-8th is divided into 14 timeslots each screening films from a particular genre. Film screening sequences include "Short Films: Focus on Murder and Intrigue," "Animated Short Films," "Love Stories" "Short Shorts and Microbudget Films" among others.


Highlighted festival films include the following selections:


ANIMATED SHORTS

Animated films include 18 selections including Moongirl, An award-winning CG animation about a little boy taken to meet the girl in the moon. The work is from Director, Producer and Writer, Henry Selick who was behind The Nightmare Before Christmas and James And The Giant Peach. Selick also recently completed animation for Wes Anderson's feature The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. IFCT will also present a short animated film entitled Cherie, Directed by Jason Wen. Cherie is about a creatively struggling painter who finds inspiration from a talking frog, who makes her a tempting offer. Jason Wen works in the special-effects industry in London, England, specializing in computer animation. His recent credits include having worked on computer-animated effects and characters for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Alien vs Predator and Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit.


THRILLER/HORROR SHORTS

Thriller and Horror shorts presentations include The Oval Portrait directed by Italian Director Nestore Buonafede and based on the tale by Edgar Allen Poe, The Watcher Directed by Eli Sasich a "monster in the closet" story with a horrifying twist ending featuring unique fx, and Against Nature Directed by Antony Zaki a lavish period piece about a rich man who decides to play cruel mind games with a less financially fortunate man.


EXPERIMENTAL FILMS

The Int'l Fest of Cinema and Technology has a large experimental film section. Two unique sequences during the festival will showcase Experimental Films- one is labeled "Dark Experimental Films" labeled as Experimental Film with a frightening or dark undertone. Experimental film selections include Australian short State of Suspension Directed by Dominika Ferenz which is a "visual meditation on the impact of technology on our lives" Louise. a French film Directed by Yannick Lache, which follows a sculptor who lives in a mechanical environment where the obsessing hubbub seem to rythym his life as a machine and the visually intensive film Insomniac City from Israeli Director Ran Slavin about a man suffering from insomnia who tries to recall how/if he has come to be shot in one of the city's underground car parks through a fragmented stream of events that encompass day and night inTel Aviv.


SCI-FI SHORTS

Science Fiction independent film selections include Bartholomew's Song, Directed by Destin Cretton and Lowell Frank, about the consequences of stepping out of line in a world set with repetitive rules, the Spanish short film The Last Alchemist Directed by Nicolas Caicoyaabout colonists who find a strange and antique artifact with alchemist symbols, and Tom on Mars Directed by Andrei Severny,a love story set on a mission to Mars in which an astronaut faces psychological difficulties. Tom on Mars is based on a number of real-life cases of dangerous psychological challenges experienced by astronauts during long space assignments.

DRAMATIC SHORTS AND COMEDIC SHORTS

Narrative short selections include Knife Shift Directed by Jim Hudson- this film noir mystery from New Zealand features a notable cast including Craig Hall (The World's Fastest Indian, King Kong, Perfect Creature) and Kate Elliott (Fracture, Toy Love, Insiders Guide to Love), Alone in a Crowd Directed by Brian Diederich starring Ed Begley Jr and Razor Fish Directed by Helen Williams which stars Academy-award winner Brenda Fricker ('My Left Foot') as a woman in a small village in Ireland who finds herself confronted with divorce after thirty years of marriage and after she has killed her husband. On the comedic side of things the festival will present a Comedic Shorts sequence including the British film Dutch Bird Directed by Kirk Weddell, Dutch Bird is a touching comedy about Irish village life, pigeon racing and international drug smuggling, but ultimately the lengths to which people will go for friendship. Dutch Bird stars Seamus Kerrigan (David Kelly, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Waking Ned Divine, Fawlty Towers) and Christopher Dunne, (Lighthouse, 28 Days Later, Irish Jam)

MORE INFORMATION

The schedule of festival screenings and directions to the venues can be found at www.ifct.org/jax.html Tickets for each night are $6 per screening session, $3 for students. Screenings will be taking place Thursday December 6th and Friday December 7th from 5pm-11:30pm. On Saturday December 8th, screenings will run from 2pm-11:30pm. Live music will be performed on Friday December 6th from 6pm-10pm approximately. All attendees will also receive half off regular drink prices when they present their ticket stubs. Screenings will be taking place at The Rusted Hinge at 9th and Main in Historic Springfield- Jacksonville, Florida. For more information on tickets or schedule please contact admin@ifct.org.