Downtown Tyler Film Fest Announced

TYLER – A new film festival was announced Thursday by the film working group of the Downtown Tyler Arts Coalition (DTAC). The Downtown Tyler Arts Film Festival will take place Oct. 12-15 at Liberty Hall. Members of the DTAC filmmaker group are serving as organizers. “Show Us Your Shorts” is the theme of this year’s festival, which concentrates on comedic short films of 15 minutes or less. The event will kick off with a VIP street party on Oct. 12, with films available for viewing Oct. 13-15 at the newly renovated Liberty Hall. Additional activities will be announced at a later date.

“Independent film production is becoming a major industry,” said festival Director Chris Abraham, a volunteer with DTAC. Abraham pointed out that major media distributors have a growing interest in small, start-up studios, and filmmaking is now a very popular area of study on college campuses. Abraham continued by saying that new distribution avenues are opening lucrative business models for new media producers. “A film festival is not only great fun, but it is also a very smart business move for Tyler,” Abraham said. Also organizing the event are experienced film festival producers Stephen Self and Donna Gatewood.

The film festival is also capitalizing on Tyler’s relatively new concept of Rose Season, an effort to expand upon the economic impact of the Rose Festival by incorporating a variety of events to extend the season to three weeks. “This event was planned intentionally to complement the Rose Festival dates and offer additional activities for residents and visitors alike to enjoy,” said City of Tyler Main Street department leader Beverly Abell. “We hope the film festival will only add to the wonderful schedule of events available during Rose Season.”

Entries in the film fest are limited to live-action or animation. All films must have at least one producer or director who is a resident of Texas. Live-action movies must have had at least 75 percent of their principal photography completed in Texas. Entries must be received by Aug. 31, and only 25 will be selected for showing. Go to http://www.tylerfilmfest.com for more information on the event. “We also encourage people to ‘like’ the festival on Facebook and keep up with events on Twitter,” Abell said.