We have just EXTENDED the Final Deadline to Tuesday, January 15th, 2008! We are making the Final Deadline Extension - to Arrive By January 31st. Your entry must be in our office by that day.

Special benefits for FEST21 members ONLY:
* The Late fee is waived!.
* One extra competition category at No Charge! ... so you get two total categories.
* So easy to enter, goto http://www.worldfest.org, click on Enter Film Festival on the upper left grey bar, then click on FAQ, CATEGORIES and ENTRY FORMS, fill one out, send it is with the DVD or VHS. It takes less than 2 minutes to fill out our simple and easy entry form. We will send you an email when your entry arrives and is checked in! We will then let you know how it does in the jury sessions!

Remember, before there was Sundance or SXSW, before there was Toronto or Tribeca, there was WorldFest!

Fiercely Dedicated to the Independent Filmmaker. Unlike other festivals, we show no major studio films at all! Why enter the 1st Annual Bugtussle Indie on-line Film Festival when you can compete in the festival that discovered Spielburg, Lucas, Ang Lee, Ridley Scott, The Coen Brothers, and hundreds more!

We welcome your entry!

Our thanks and best wishes for a Wonderful New Year,
Kathleen Haney
Artistic & Program Director
The 41st Annual WorldFest-Houston

Today, January 31st is the Final Entry Deadline for the 40th Annual WorldFest-Houston, but as a very special benefit to members/viewers of FEST21 only, we are allowing a special FEST21 Deadline of Friday, February 9th! Your entry must be in our office by that day. To qualify - simply print FEST21 in the upper right-hand corner of the Entry Form!

Extra Special benefits for FEST21 members:
* Exclusive FEST21 Entry Deadline of FEB 9!
* The Late fee is waived!.
* One extra Competition Category at No Charge! ... so you get two total categories.
* So easy to enter, goto Link Textwww.worldfest.org, click on Enter Film Festival on the upper left grey bar, then click on FAQ, CATEGORIES and ENTRY FORMS, fill one out, send it is with the DVD or VHS. It takes less than 2 minutes to fill out our simple and easy entry form. (Our Juries are now hard at work, and will be screening the entries over the next four weeks, so we can slip in FEST21 members' entries as a special bonus!) WorldFest is the International film festival that gave first awards to Spielberg, Lucas, David Lynch, Ang Lee, Ridley Scott, The Coen Brothers, Brian De Palma and Atom Egoyan, so be part of this exciting "Fiercely Independent" film & video festival! The only film festival in the world with a Sailboat Regatta and Texas BBQ exclusively for filmmakers and festival guests!
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Howdy from Houston ... If you have a film/video ready to enter now, competition categories are still open! All Screenplays are also still open, until January 15! Email us to check on your category and if the jury is still hard at work, they may accept your entry.
Simply contact us at - entry@worldfest.org for a quick response.

We will start posting the titles of Shorts and Features that have been selected for screening at WorldFest in the next few weeks! We will post them here on FEST21 and on our website. We received more than 4,500 total international feature, short and documentary film/video entries and over 500 feature films for the 2008 competition. More than 2/3 of all the entries originated on a digital format! We will select around 60 new Feature Films and 100 Short Films for presentation at the 41st Annual WorldFest - April 11-20, 2008.

All WorldFest screenings are held at the AMC Studio 30 Dunvale Theater, the Flagship AMC Theater in Houston! See your film on a big theater screen with a large audience! Our largest theater seats more than 600 film buffs, and our smallest theater seats 250! There is nothing like seeing your film at WorldFest in a big beautful theater with a full house of festival film buffs! We project in 35mm and Digital. For Digital production we use an advanced state-of-the art Marantz All-Regions, All Systems DVD playback deck, with the BARCO R-20 DLP Digital Projector, which puts a very high definition picture up on a 50-foot theater screen with 20,000 lumens of brilliance! The projected image brings tears to some filmmakers eyes, as they have never seen their film looking so good on such a large theater screen!

WorldFest provides filmmakers a free shuttle bus to and from the HQ Hotel, The Renaissance Houston, to the AMC Studio 30 Theater. Our Festival Club is open every night for filmmakers and film buffs to meet and mingle, and at WorldFest, "you don't need no stinkin' badges" to enjoy the Festival Club! We also will offer our fine six professional production seminars that cover everything from Writing & Selling Screenplays to Distribution of the Indie Film! The WorldFest Remi Awards Gala Dinner and Champagne Reception is on Saturday, April 19th, and the next day, on Sunday the 20th we present the VIP Tour of NASA and Space Center Houston, the world's only Film Festival Sailing Regatta at the Houston Yacht Club and a genuine Texas BBQ with Shiner Bock Beer! All attending filmmakers are assigned a beautiful yacht, complete with your own Captain and Crew for the 3-leg olympic triangle race on Galveston Bay!

Be a part of one of the oldest, best and most enjoyable international film festivals in North America -- WorldFest-Houston, the first film festival in the South and the 3rd oldest in North America, founded in 1961! We discovered Spielberg, Lucas, Lynch, Ang Lee, Ridley Scott, Robert Rodriguez and Brian De Palma with their first awards, and you could be next! Info awaits you at www.worldfest.orgLink Text

WorldFest-Houston Wraps its 41st on Angelic note!

(The 41st Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival) WorldFest-Houston, the 3rd longest-running International Film Festival in North America, celebrated the conclusion of its 41st Annual Independent Film Showcase with a Grand Awards Gala on April 19th and Closing Day Festivities on April 20th with a VIP NASA and Space Center Houston tour and Texas BBQ sponsored by The Houston Yacht Club and wrapped it up with a double bill of Claude Lelouch’s Roman de Gare and Turkey’s singing sensation Mahsun Kirmizigul’s debut film, White Angel.  All WorldFest events are always open to the public.         

 WorldFest, founded as an International Film Society in August 1961, became the third competitive international film festival in North America, following San Francisco and New York.  WorldFest evolved into a competitive Intl Film Festival in April 1968 and has a long list of “discovered” film greats such as Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Ridley Scott, David Lynch, Ridley Scott, Oliver Stone, Atom Egoyan, Randall Kleiser, Ang Lee, Robert Rodriguez, Brian de Palma, the Coen Brothers and many others from their beginning efforts with submissions early in their careers. 

Multi award-winning producer/director, Hunter Todd, founded this Int’l. Film festival to honor all categories of film and video production continuing his long dedication of “Discovery” in spotlighting emerging Independent filmmakers, “the Spielbergs & Ang Lees of tomorrow.” 

WorldFest’s mission is to recognize and honor outstanding creative excellence in film & video, validate brilliant abilities and promote future filmmaking in Texas as well as enhance cultural tourism for Houston. 

The 10-day film festival ran to a smooth finish with several sold-out full houses, 15 World Premieres, 50 Indie feature productions, 76 award winning shorts and over 500 USA and International filmmakers in attendance. 

All film premieres were screened at the Flagship AMC Studio 30 Theatres, a fifth year WorldFest-Houston Cinema partner.

Other major VIP Partner/Sponsors of WorldFest include Eastman Kodak, Microsoft, The Renaissance/Marriott Hotels, The City of Houston, The State of Texas, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Houston Arts Alliance, Budget Rent a Car, Wagner Media, Plus8Digital, NASA/Space Center Houston, Boxer Properties, Green Mountain Energy, The Wellness Center of Houston, Redwood Creek and Barefoot Cellar Vineyards, The Houston Film Commission and The Houston Yacht Club. 

WorldFest’s  REMI Awards Gala on Saturday, April 19th was held in The Renaissance Hotel, VIP partner and official host hotel for the 41st annual WorldFest.  Festivities began with a cocktail reception hosted by The Houston Film Commission.  Five-time World Champion Bagpipe Band from Houston’s St. Thomas Episcopal School launched the awards segment by piping in festival founder, Hunter Todd, leading the parade of beautiful Page Parkes models, award presenters for the special evening. Local celebrity and veteran news anchor, Bob Beaudreault was Co-host. Dance entertainment was presented by MECA Mexican Folkloric Dancers of Houston followed by the Champion Scottish Highland St. Thomas Episcopal School dancers with a grand finale of Shawn Welling’s Planet Funk Academy’s premiere dancers who performed a high-energy dance mix created especially for the gala. 

 WorldFest conducted Six Film Industry Seminars concluding with the ever popular Indie Forum of WorldFest Directors moderated by David Winning, a multi-award winner at WorldFest. Producer DJ Paul a longtime festival friend returned with his directorial debut film B.O.H.I.C.A. and presented the Indie Financing Seminar. Panorama Entertainment’s Stuart Strutin presented Distribution for Indies, Hollywood’s Jon Scheide offered Protocol for Scriptwriters and Laura Pennino of Pennino and Partners presented How to Promote your Indie Project and award-winning Canadian Documentarian Alan Mendelsohn’s Docs on a Dime rounded out the WorldFest Master Class Production Seminars this year. 

WorldFest 2008 Grand REMI Awards are:

BEST THEATRICAL FEATURE to Before the Rains, Santosh Sivan, Director & Ashok Rao, Executive Producer, Excalibur Pictures, USA/India;

BEST FILM & VIDEO to Stop the Aerial Hunting of Wolves in Alaska, Bill Burnett, GVI, DC;

BEST TV & CABLE PRODUCTION to Extraterrestrial, Nataliya Gerovska, STAR MEDIA, Kiev, UKRAINE;

BEST NEW MEDIA, Creative Capers Entertainment Website by Creative Capers of Montrose, CA;

BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM & VIDEO to Pablo Millan for Long Path of Stone, ArteAutor, Lugo, SPAIN;

BEST SHORT SUBJECT to Bill Block for The Drummer, Bill Block Films, NY, USA;

BEST TV COMMERCIAL to Max Gutierrez for Guinness “At Last”, NY, USA;

BEST STUDENT FILM to Julia Schwarz for Nachts Das Leben, GERMANY;

BEST MUSIC VIDEO to Rosemary Garner for Weird Al  - Mixed Up S.O.B., Seattle, WA 

All other award results from this year’s WorldFest competition are posted on our website at www.worldfest.org– There were more than 4,500 category entries in all film and video competitions, and around 15% of the entries won awards. 

WorldFest Closing Day Festivities included a special VIP tour of NASA & Space Center Houston with a Regatta & Texas BBQ & Marimba Band party hosted by The Houston Yacht Club.

The final event was back at the AMC cinema for two Closing Night films, Roman de Gare, directed by Claude Lelouchand White Angel, (Istanbul, Turkey) which won the Special Jury Award for Best Director (Mahsun Kirmizigul) and also the Best International Feature Gold Cup presented by the Russian-American Business Magazine. 

During the 10-day festival, over 500 filmmakers from more than 33 nations around the world were in attendance to personally accept their various awards from this year’s WorldFest’s competition of thousands of submitted category entries.

Dates for WorldFest-Houston #42 are April 18-April 27, 2009. 

Please check our website at - www.worldfest.org - for the full winners’ list or call 713-965-9955 for more information. “Call for Entries” for next year’s event will be mailed out in late September.

Entries officially open August 15th, 2008. Main deadline is December 15, 2008.

You may download official entry forms from our Internet website starting August 1st 2008. We are now streaming particular Remi Award winners on our website!

WorldFest-Houston, PO Box 56566, Houston, Texas 77256-6566

713-965-9955 www.worldfest.org    mail@worldfest.org

Following are the Special Jury Awards from the 2008 WorldFest-Houston, 41st edition. (There were more than 4,500 category entries in the 2008 Festival Remi awards Competition.)

10 QUESTIONS FOR THE DALAI LAMA - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Jenny Manocchio - monterey media inc. - Thousand OaksCA

THE METROSEXUAL - SPECIAL JURY AWARD - Adam Kaufman - KINGS ROAD PRODUCTIONS, INC. - Los Angeles CA

THIS BEAUTIFUL CITY    - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Ed Gass-Donnelly - 3 LEGGED DOG FILMS - Toronto, Ontario, CANADA

THEY WAIT - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Ernie Barabarash - BRIGHTLIGHT PICTURES, INC. - BurnabyBritish Columbia, CANADA

LABOU  - SPECIAL JURY AWARD - Greg Aronowitz - DOG & ROOSTER PRODUCTIONS - Studio City, CA

BOHICA - SPECIAL JURY AWARD - DJ Paul - SIXTH WAY PRODUCTIONS - Los Angeles, CA

IMMENSITY OF JUSTICE - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Weislaw Saniewski - SACO FILMS - Warszawa, POLAND

THE STONE ANGEL - SPECIAL JURY AWARD - Kari Skogland - HANDMADE FILMS INTERNATIONAL – London, ENGLAND, UK

THE EMIGRE - EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT - SPECIAL JURY AWARD - Katalin Vajda - MAGYAR FILMUNIO – Budapest, HUNGARY

THE JOURNEY: THE GREEK AMERICAN DREAM - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Maria Iliou- PROTEUS – Athens, Attiki, GREECE

CHAMAME - MUSIC, PEOPLE, POETRY - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Cosima Lange - CP MEDIEN AG – Ludwigsburg, GERMANY

GREETINGS FROM THE SHORE - SPECIAL JURY AWARD - Greg Chwerchak - HUDSON MERMAID – NY, New York

WHITE ANGEL - BEST NEW DIRECTOR - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Mahsun Kirmizigul - BOYUT FILM – Istanbul, TURKEY

BEFORE THE RAINS - BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Santosh Sivan, Director - Ashok Rao, Executive Producer - Beverly Hills,        CA

A WINTER'S TALE - BEST EDITING - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Michele Francis - KEDA SERENE FILMS - Toronto, Ontario, CANADA

BEFORE THE RAINS - BEST MUSIC - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Mark Killian - Ashok Rao, Executive Producer - Beverly Hills, CA

MAGAZINE GAP ROAD - BEST ART DIRECTION - SPECIAL JURY AWARD - Lok Man Leung - TAI TAI FILMS - Hong Kong, CHINA

FLIGHT FROM DEATH: THE QUEST FOR IMMORTALITY - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Jessica Klement - OCTAPIXX WORLDWIDE – Toronto, Ontario, CANADA

ON AIR: EARLY RADIO IN CENTRAL VIRGINIA - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Dave Miller - HCTV HENRICO COUNTY TELEVISION – Richmond, VA

VIMY RIDGE: HEAVEN TO HELL - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Debby Adams - YAP FILMS, INC. – Toronto, Ontario, CANADA

AFTERMATH OF METH  - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Carol Dalrymple - KUED TV - Salt Lake City, UT

HUBBLE'S CANVAS (EPISODE 2 AND EPISODE 3) - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Craig Colby - HIGH FIDELITY HDTV - Toronto, Ontario, CANADA

THE ART OF VICTORY - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Sheldon Altfeld - ALTFELD PRODUCTIONS - Los Angeles, CA

BLOOD TIES - EPISODE 5:55 - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – David Winning - GROUNDSTAR MDW ENTERTAINMENT GROUP – Calgary, Alberta, CANADA

EDWARD HOPPER - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Meg Ferris - NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART – DEXP – Landover, MD

J.M.W. TURNER - SPECIAL JURY AWARD - Meg Ferris - NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART – DEXP – Landover, MD

THE LADIES - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Christina Voros - MIGRANT TURTLE FILMS – Brooklyn, NY

STRENGTH OF THE NATION - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Bart Woodward - MAGUIRE-REEDER, LTD. – Alexandria,              VA

DO NOT GO GENTLY - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Jo Mellen - NEWIST / CESA 7 - Green Bay, WI

VACCINE-NATION - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Gary Null - GARY NULL & ASSOCIATES - New York, NY

NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT: HOW WALL STREET WORKS - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Jack Kahn - NBR ENTERPRISES / WPBT2 MIAMI – Miami, FL

MONSTER IN THE FAMILY: THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – John Kastner - JS KASTNER PRODUCTIONS – Toronto, Ontario, CANADA

ASSASSINATION: IDAHO'S TRIAL OF THE CENTURY - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Joan Cartan-Hansen - IDAHO PUBLIC TELEVISION – Boise, ID

COWPENS: A BATTLE REMEMBERED - SPECIAL JURY AWARD - Chris Wheeler- GREAT DIVIDE PICTURES – Littleton, CO

THE LONG WALK: TEARS OF THE NAVAJO - SPECIAL JURY AWARD - John Howe - KUED/ PBS    - Salt Lake City, UT

THE RECKONING - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Abby Hines - VISION VIDEO / GATEWAY FILMS – Worcester, PA

PLAYING THE GAME 2 - SPECIAL JURY AWARD - Dr. Robin Sawyer - HEALTHVISIONS MEDIA – Columbia, MD

TAKE THE LEAD - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Martin Andersen - MARTIN ANDERSEN PRODUCTIONS – Orem, UT

SANDFLOOR CATHEDRAL - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Abby Hines - VISION VIDEO / GATEWAY FILMS - Worcester, PA

PRAYER IN AMERICA - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Patricia Ostermick - THE DUNCAN GROUP – Milwaukee, WI

OUTDOOR IDAHO: A MIDDLE FORK JOURNEY - SPECIAL JURY AWARD - Joan     Cartan-Hansen - IDAHO PUBLIC TELEVISION – Boise, ID

AFRICA'S ORPHANS-IN THEIR OWN WORDS - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Scot McDonald - FULL FRAME PRODUCTIONS - West Vancouver, BC, CANADA

MY MOTHER - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Sarah Treadwell - MEDB FILMS- Ramsgate, Kent, ENGLAND UK

BEYOND FEAR- SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Michael Perlman - WORLD2BE PRODUCTION - Weehawken, NJ

THE LONG WALK: TEARS OF THE NAVAJO - SPECIAL JURY AWARD - John Howe - KUED / PBS - Salt Lake City, UT

ROCK GARDEN: A LOVE STORY - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Gloria Kim - GLOYOUS PRODUCTIONS – Toronto, Ontario, CANADA

INTERIOR. BEDSIT – DAY - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Chanteue de Carvalho - FILM 38 LTD - Courtyard Studio 3- London, ENGLAND

THE RUG - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Polly Palomino - PALOMINO PRODUCTIONS – Bellaire, TX

ON GREAT WHITE WINGS - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Joshua Colover - APERTURE FILMS, LTD. - Newport Beach,             CA

STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Andre Singer - WEST PARK PICTURES – London, ENGLAND

THE ALPS - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Nadine Ferdousi - MACGILLIVRAY FREEMAN FILMS - Laguna Beach, CA

BURGEON AND FADE - SPECIAL JURY AWARD - Anita Wong - CFC DISTRIBUTION - Toronto, Ontario, CANADA

HABLAME BAJITO - SPECIAL JURY AWARD - Fernando Merinero - VENDAVAL PRODUCCIONES, SL / DREAMS BOULEVARD – Madrid, SPAIN

MIRANDA & GORDON - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Amanda Cameron - FESTIVAL CIRCUIT SERVICES - Oakville, Ontario, CANADA

SEXY THING - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Heather Oxenham - KARISMA PICTURES - Bondi Junction, NSW, Australia

SHOWTIME - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Theophilos Papastylianos - Glyfada, Athens, GREECE

MECHANICS OF LIFE SERIES - SPECIAL JURY AWARD - Kathy Longsworth - PHOENIX LEARNING GROUP INC. - St. Louis, MO

HEARTBEATS - SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Vincent Coen – LUNAFILMS – Brussels, BELGIUM

THE SPIDER EXPERIMENT - SPECIAL JURY AWARD - Scott & Paula Merrow – Albuquerque, NM

EL ESPEJO - SPECIAL JURY AWARD - Adan Llorca – KATKALAS – Madrid, SPAIN

FIRST LANDING - SPECIAL JURY AWARD - Michael Little - CBN - Virginia Beach,   VA

DOGBOY - SPECIAL JURY AWARD - Caroline Coutts - PIGS CAN FLY FILM PRODUCTIONS – Vancouver, British Columbia, CANADA

PORTRAIT OF A WHITE WOMAN WITH A DAGGER - SPECIAL JURY AWARD - Carlos Ruiz - CARLOS CEACERO RUIZ – Madrid, SPAIN

CRENSHAW NIGHTS - SPECIAL JURY AWARD - Peter Gelles - Los Angeles, CA

IN THE NAME OF THE SON - SPECIAL JURY AWARD - Harun Mehmedinovic AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE CONSERVATORY - Los Angeles, CA

A DAY'S WORK  - SPECIAL JURY AWARD - Rajeev Dassani - Los Angeles, CA

CUP OF TREE - SPECIAL JURY AWARD - Jung Yoo – Elmhurst, NY

41st Annual WorldFest 2008 Winners: 04/28/08
The 2008 Remi Winners list is online:check the attached PDF

Houston International Film & Video Festival
April 17 - 26, 2009
Extended deadline till February 28 for filmfestivals.com and fest21.com filmmakers! NO LATE FEE
Download the preferred entry form here and save $15

We are delighted to say that we have a Christmas / Winter Holiday Gift for everyone! We are happy to EXTEND the Entry Deadline for all entrants in all categories!

The 44th Annual WorldFest-Houston (April 8-17, 2011) Extends the Entry Deadline to JAN 15, 2011 - all Late Fees are Waived! This a a "Be Here By" Deadline. Your entry must reach WorldFest by JAN 15, 2011.

WorldFest is unique in all the festival world! Not only is it the oldest Indie Film Festival in the world, but it is the only major film & video festival with ten competition categories. Most International Festivals have but two major categories, Shorts and Features... but WorldFest also offers competition and Remi Awards in Documentary, Student, Experimental, New Media (Including Websites), TV Production, TV Commercials, Screenplays, Film & Video Production and Music Videos. In Addition, WorldFest has more than 200 sub-categories, which gives the entrant an excellent chance for a Remi Win! Apples competing with Apples, not with Kumquats! It makes a huge difference and results in an exceptional film & video festival where filmmakers of all sorts are brought together with amazing and wonderful results! Films are screened in huge commercial AMC Theaters, seating up to 700 people! We screen in both digital (with Christie and Barco Digital Projection) and 35mm. There are six Master Classes, a Festival Club, a Remi Awards Gala Dinner, and the only film festival sailing regatta in the world! Held on the last day of the festival at the beautiful Houston Yacht Club on Galveston Bay! There is also a VIP Tour of NASA and Space Center Houston for all Remi Award Winning Filmmakers and their guests!

Goto http://www.worldfest.org - click on Enter, then on - Enter Film Festival - at the top gray bar, then on FAQ, CATEGORIES and ENTRY FORMS. Download the form, fill it out and send it in with your DVD entry. We will send you a personal confirming email when your entry is received and processed. We will also inform you in advance as to the results of the jury.  We do not accept entries via download, as the juries prefer to view them on our big 72" digital flat screens. Please do read our FAQ carefully as it does answer a lot of your questions! Welcome to WorldFest, the festival that discovered Spielberg, Lucas, Ang Lee, Ridley Scott, John Lee Hancock, Randal Kleiser and David Lynch with their very first awards!

"Before there was Sundance or SXSW, before there was Toronto or Tribeca, there was WorldFest! The oldest Independent Film & Video Festival in the whole wide world! 44 Years!

Simple and easy to enter ... http://www.worldfest.org/indexb.html - We hope to see you in Texas!

ENTRY INFORMATION

• Online Entry Form
• Download Entry Form
• Categories
• Entry Payments
• FAQ
• How to make award winning entries

Ten Great Days in April! From the 8th through the 17th, more than 200 New Indies Films from 33 Countries, including 20 Premieres in our new Panorama China! Our new Website, designed by the brilliant creative team at Lopez Negrete Communications goes live in early March! We will be posting film Titles, and Showtimes! You will be able to purchase single tickets and VIP Series Passes Online and we will begin to notify Remi Winners in Mid-March. The Texas Bluebonnets will bloom then! 

There will be 9 Master Classes in all aspects of film/video production, including the use of Drones and how to obtain amazing free stock footage from NASA! All Master Classes are held at the HQ DoubleTree Hotel in Greenway Plaza with special rates for Filmmakers and Filmbuffs. The Festival Club is located in the HQ Hotel for great networking with more than 600 Intl filmmakers attending. All Premieres at the HQ AMC Studio 30 Dunvale Theater! WorldFest is the only film festival in the Whole Wide World with a VIP Tour of NASA, a Texas BBQ and the annual WorldFest Consular regatta at the classic Houston Yacht Club on Closing Day!  Lots more info at www.worldfest.org

WorldFest gave 1st Honors to Spielberg, Ang Lee, the Coen Brothers, John Lee Hancock, George Lucas, Randal Kleiser and hundreds more filmmakers! This years Remi WInners will be the Ang Lee's and Spielberg's of Tomorrow! 

Offering another tantalizing cornucopia of true Indie films, WorldFest 49 continues 4 more days until Sunday, April 17th with a number of World Premieres from 78 Indie features and a large contingent of award winning shorts (106). An amazing Second Annual Panorama China has blossomed into an offering of 20+ Indie films from China with most directors and producers in attendance. Another special showcase is The Eleventh Annual Italian Panorama featuring 2 World Premieres  and their directors attending. An enticing array of USA Indie dramas & quirky comedies, an exciting Croatian documentary, a Tanzania wedding planner film, an Armenian buddy film plus a wide array of USA Indie flicks from comedies to crime thrillers provide festival audiences a wide variety of cinematic treats. All screenings will be at The AMC Studio 30 on Dunvale, our long term festival cinema partner. (2949 Dunvale, Houston, TX 77046).  Check website for trailers, times and ticketing… www.worldfest.org/calendar

HOPE, the Official Closing Night film is an inspirational faith-based story produced by Irving Films, the father & daughter film team, Charles Irving and Lakisha Lemons, based in Houston, TX who are now working on a fourth feature.

With the WorldFest- Houston juries just finalizing their Best Actor/Actress nominations, the festival is proud to announce the Nominees for the 2016 Remi Awards, honoring the best actor, best actress, best supporting actor, and best supporting actress and this year continuing the exciting new category; Rising Stars. The WorldFest Remi Awards will be presented to the attending winners at our Awards Ceremony, April 16, 2016 at The Doubletree by Hilton Hotel (#6 East Greenway Plaza).

 
BEST ACTRESS nominees are: Rebecca Calder (Love/Me/Do) UK; Montse Germán (Sonata for Cello) Spain; Kate French (Last Man Club) USA; Abigail Spencer (a beautiful now) USA; Jasmin Schwiers, (Morpheus) Germany.

BEST ACTOR nominees are: Nick Matteo (Clandestine) USA; Quantae Love (Popolo) USA; Pyotr Fyhodorov, (The Dawns Here are Quiet) Ukraine; Estes Tarver (Changeover) USA; Mu-Yeol KIM, (Northern Limit Line) S. Korea.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Anna Schudt, The Good Goring, Germany; Aiko Melendez, Deliver Us, Philippines; Anastasiya Mikulchina, The Dawns Here are Quiet, Ukraine, Mariana Ximenes, (A Matter of Courage) Brazil; Brittany Allen, (Look Again) Canada.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR, JM de Guzman, (Tandem) Philippines; David La Rosa, (Clandestine) USA; Antonio Ibáñez (Paranoid Girls) Spain; Lee Hyun-Woo, (Norhern Limit Line) S. Korea; Nico Antonio (Tandem) Philippines.

In the WorldFest Rising Stars category, WorldFest jury members have made their considered deliberations for final nominees in Best Female Stars: Stefania LaVie Owen (Coming through the Rye) USA; Cristiana Capotondi (Elementary Loves) Italy; Madalyn Horcher (Riding 79) Puerto Rico. For Best Male Stars the nominees are: Julian Feder (Po) USA; Ronwaldo Martin (My Life with a King) Philippines; Blaze Tucker  (Last Man Club) USA.

WorldFest will continue with its annual Short Film Showcase, a special review of 106 new short and student films from the festival that gave first top honors to Spielberg, Lucas, The Coen Brothers, Ridley Scott, Robert Rodriguez, Randal Kleiser, Spike Lee, Gavin Hood, John Lee Hancock, Michael Cimino, Steven Poster, Oliver Stone, Ang Lee, Atom Egoyan and David Lynch, among many others! Few other festivals have such a “discovery”  track record!

WorldFest began in August 1961, as Cinema Arts, an International Film Society,   screening Independent, Foreign & Art films. In April 1968 seven years later, it became an officially competitive International Film Festival, and has been in continuous operation ever since. It is one of the original three film festivals in North America, with San Francisco and New York as the first two. Following WorldFest was Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, and Seattle. Then Telluride, Sundance, Toronto, SXSW and more recently, Tribeca.  

The 49th Annual WorldFest offers International Competition in Features, Shorts, TV production, TV commercials, unproduced Screenplays & Teleplays, Experimental, Student, Documentary, Business & Industry, New Media, and Music Videos. WorldFest is the largest film & video competition in the world, in sheer number of actual category entries, with more than 4,300 category entries received in 2016. There are over 200 sub-categories for competition, allowing each film to compete in its own genre.
WorldFest-Houston is sponsored by Arcodoro, Boxer Properties, The Houston Yacht Club, The Doubletree by Hilton Hotel, Lopez Negrete Communications, HBU, and the Houston Arts Alliance (HAA).  
                         More info:    http://www.worldfest.org

Grab the Wonderful WorldFest App at the Free App Store! For Smart Phones!

http://grabskoop.com/events/

THE ANNUAL WORLDFEST SCHEDULE

A full house listened eagerly to a gifted and comedic talent Casey Kelley,  25 year veteran of the WCA screenwriter with sales to NBC, ABC, CBS, Disney,LifetimePBS, Paramount Columbia and Universal. An AFI Directing for Women grant recipient and Remi Award for The Other Woman, Kelly teaches scriptwriting at numerous venues and at university.

Sharing her expertise on scriptwriting and character development with excitement and generousity Kelly shared anecdotes stemming from her standout career from a personal perpective detailing hilarious and sometimes challenging moments to the eager audience of neophyte writers to seasoned scriptwriters and producers.

Specific to the art of character building and what not to express Kelly was insighful as the audience learned how to create and write an efficient yet powerful script.

There is a certain sensitivity from where she spoke, suggesting what types of words or lines may enhance or distract from your characters.

This is how Kelly expressed the difference between a comedy and a tragedy "If the character changes, it's a comedy. It he/she fails to change it's a tragedy.'

Or "A good story contains hard problems that matter or don't say what you will see have seen or will see." Don't underestimate your audience."

  Kelly spoke with insightful observation and emotional sensitivity. It was understood that a great writer knows and understands how to convey empathy as a good writer is inherently empathetic. The role of minors characters can be very important in order to enhance personality traits of the main characters. 

Another great tip was to write sequentially and in the case of flashbacks they should also come in order of the main sequence of the story. Tell a story in pictures...and so it goes.  

A great lesson is a great story.

Written by Laurie Gordon

Hunter Todd and Kathleen Haney

Check below the long list of winners (each category has 3 awards) Hunter Todd did a terrific job at announcing them all with a cavalry pace. I missed my spot when going onstage to receive the Gold Remy Award for best Romance for Get Happy, beeing not fast enough, the award was gone. (Do you think you look stupid if you walk onstage ...and quickly away without the coveted award :-) because it had already disapeared?) Thank god a few glasses of champagne diluted the shame! And I was able to get it backstage.