The Orlando Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Orlando in the U.S. state of Florida. It has become one of the premier film festivals for independent filmmakers to showcase their work. Heading into its 4th year, the Orlando Film Festival attracts over 2,000 entries from filmmakers in more than 30 countries.

Created as an alternative to commercial cinema, the annual week-long festival remains true to its original goal of promoting film as an art form. Its mission is to support and promote culture and the arts in Downtown Orlando through the medium of film. The Orlando Film Festival seeks to inspire student, future and current filmmakers in the art of filmmaking, and to enhance the movie viewing experience in Downtown Orlando through creative, unique and entertaining events. The Orlando Film Festival also fosters the growth of emerging and established film producers.

The festival is open to film of all lengths and genres, including experimental, narrative, animation, documentary, and genre hybrids. The festival’s mission is to provide a worldwide public forum for moving image exhibitions, to encourage and showcase artists of the moving image, to promote the moving image as art, and to offer educational outreach. The Orlando Film Festival has become one of the most active film organizations in the country championing artists' rights of expression and free speech. Past celebrity attendees are Marcia Gay-Harden (2006) and Joey Pantoliano (2007).

The 2008 festival ran November 5-9, and opened with the an advance screening of the feature film Courting Condi. That film won the award for Best Performance. First prize for the Best Director category went to Jennifer Lynch, for her film Surveillance; second prize went to Sebastian Doggart for Courting Condi. The Best Documentary award went to Dear Zachary. First prize for Best Picture went to Contract Killers; second prize went to Courting Condi. [1]

[edit] External links

• Orlando Film Festival website

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