Napa Valley Film Festival Announces 2011 Call For Entries

Filmmakers are invited to submit for inaugural Film Festival November 9-13, 2011, featuring new independent films as well as NapaValley’s finest food, wine and hospitality

Napa Valley Film Festival (NVFF) Co-Founders and Directors Brenda and Marc Lhormer have announced they are now accepting film submissions for the first annual Napa Valley Film Festival. Showcasing the best of new independent cinema while embracing the epicurean pleasures of Napa Valley, NVFF will debut November 9-13, 2011 with a five-day festival spread over four of the Napa Valley’s postcard-perfect towns.

The Festival is welcoming submissions of any theme and will be selecting more than 50 new films, including narrative features, foreign films (world cinema), documentaries, short films, and student works.  Organizers are looking for films that best entertain, inspire, educate and intrigue audiences. Categories eligible for Juried and/or Audience Awards include: Best U.S. Dramatic Feature, Best U.S. Documentary Feature, Best World Cinema (Dramatic and Doc), Best Live Action Short, Best Animated Short, and Best Documentary Short Subject.

“I’m thrilled to see a film festival of this caliber appear in Napa Valley,” said Judith Ehrlich, Oscar-nominated director of The Most Dangerous Man in America. “Brenda and Marc have impeccable taste and are the kinds of hosts that make a festival experience shine for everyone who participates.”

The Napa Valley Film Festival is dedicated to serving the interests and needs of independent filmmakers by connecting artist with audience, exhibiting and promoting new films, and nurturing a creative community with mutually rewarding relationships that last well beyond each year’s festival. Located in a world-class destination, the Festival invites filmmakers of all selected films to experience the finest hospitality and events, wonderful food and wine, appreciative audiences, and the opportunity to explore the most celebrated wine country in the world.

The inaugural NVFF will include discussion panels with industry executives, Q&A sessions with the filmmakers, wine and food tastings, opening and closing night premieres and parties, awards ceremonies, VIP receptions and winemaker dinners, and celebrity tribute programs. NVFF will also feature a unique community-focused footprint, with screening and hospitality venues clustered in four walk-able villages in Napa Valley’s distinctive small cities and towns:  Napa, Yountville, St. Helena and Calistoga. Films and filmmakers will travel from village to village, while festival attendees can choose whether to remain in one community or to sample the different venues.

Filmmakers can submit films at Withoutabox.com. Regular submission deadline is April 15; late submission deadline is May 31; and the final extended submission deadline (for withoutabox.com members only) is June 30, 2011 . Visit www.napavalleyfilmfest.org for full details.

About the Napa Valley Film Festival

The Napa Valley Film Festival is produced by Cinema Napa Valley, a registered 501c3 non-profit organization headquartered in Napa, California. The festival’s co-creators (and Cinema Napa Valley Founders) are Brenda and Marc Lhormer, producers and distributors of the feature film Bottle Shock, about the historic upset victory by Napa Valley wines over the French at the famous 1976 wine-tasting competition in Paris.  Bottle Shockpremiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival before going on to international theatrical distribution. The husband-and-wife team also ran the successful Sonoma Valley Film Festival from 2001 through 2008. In addition to producing the annual film festival, Cinema Napa Valley presents special film programs throughout the year and provides support to student filmmaking programs in Napa Valley schools.

To learn more, visit www.napavalleyfilmfest.org.