30 films and counting.
That’s how many entries Greg Johnson has received for the first Reel Dakota Film Festival, September 24-25 at the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls, SD.
“I’m getting submissions every day now, one from Belgium today, and others from Canada, the United Kingdom and Spain,” reports Johnson, the Festival’s founder. “We’ve even gotten one from Hong Kong!”
Collecting enteries is just one item on a long “to-do” list. A festival name had to be selected, a logo created, marketing plan and collateral materials developed, sponsors recruited, website programmed and promotion information written. To get it all done, Johnson and his team of volunteers are working with Lawrence & Schiller.
“A lot of people at Lawrence & Schiller are film buffs. We’re passionate about the art form,” says John Pohlman, Executive Vice President at Lawrence & Schiller. “In fact, Nick Simon, one of our team members at L&S is a graduate of AFI (the American Film Institute) in Los Angeles, CA.”
Simon is also the director of “Removal”, one of the films accepted into the Reel Dakota Film Festival. The full-length thriller stars Billy Burke from the “Twillight” series, Elliot Gould and Emma Caufield. Simon is a 1991 graduate of Washington High School in Sioux Falls.
Another Washington High graduate (class of 2000), Chris Ordal, has also been accepted by Reel Dakota. His “Earthwork” film is about Kansas artist Stan Herd’s unusual approach to artwork seen from the air.
Anyone interested in submitting a film still has time. The deadline is August 15, 2010. The official entry form to Reel Dakota Film Festival can be found on the Withoutabox website.
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