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Home > Press Releases > August 28, 2000

August 28, 2000

Media contact : Jeff Ross (jeff@sfindie.com)

THE FIRST DIGITAL UNDERGROUND MAKES A STRONG DEBUT

San Francisco - More than eight hundred and fifty Bay Area film lovers turned out for the first edition of the Digital Underground Film Festival August 25-27 proving once again the consistent demand for independent film showcases.

The festival was produced by the San Francisco Independent Film Festival (SF IndieFest), Artists' Television Access (ATA) and Cell with support from local audio/visual rental house AVTS, the film and music lover's site of choice Insound.com, and one of the City's best video stores Lost Weekend Video. The SF Bay Guardian, LIVE 105 and SFstation.com provided media support to promote the program.

The festival opened with a sold out house for Patrick Hasson's WAITING a comedy set in Philadelphia's restuarant industry. The packed house gave visiting filmmaker Hasson high marks for creating an engaging, entertaining film and WAITING's star, the up and coming actor Will Keenan, gave the crowd and impromptu show during the Q&A by hanging from the second floor balcony before seeming to fall to the floor of CellSpace. His hilarious performance underscored the uniqueness of the festival and the undergound movies in the program.

Three days, fourteen programs, one free seminar and fifty digital films later, the festival closed with ONCE AND FUTURE QUEEN, the latest work by digital video maker extrodinaire Todd Verow.

The Audience Award for Best Feature was awarded to Patrick Hasson for WAITING. Local filmmaker David Yanofsky's film about the the growing teen poetry slam movement, POETIC LICENSE, took the Audience Award for Best Documentary. Fellow Bay Area native Brian Boyce won the Audience Award for Best Short for his hilarious piece of editing magic SPECIAL REPORT.

With the growth of digital moviemaking, more challenging, edgy and truly alternative work is being produced by young filmmakers every year. In the future, Bay Area audiences can expect to see regular underground digital video programs produced by the SF IndieFest.

Be on the lookout for the next San Francisco IndieFest, scheduled for
January 11-21, 2001.