Emmy-Award Winning Students

Congratulations to the students over at the Film School of San Antonio (Harlandale ISD) for winning a 2006 Emmy in the Emerging Media category for their film MOCHA (view it here on the KLRN Fresh Cut site).

Directed by McCollum HS senior Samual Garcia, MOCHA is the second film project nominated and the first to win and Emmy. Produced by students, the film tells the bittersweet story of a young man's first love.

Students from the program will be attending the 2007 Sundance Film Festival - stay tuned for info from the road!

San Antonio Independents

We're off today, to honor veterans, so I spent some time with my daughter (who was also on holiday from pre-school). We ran all the errands I've been meaning to do for weeks, make that months. I've been traveling a lot for the Film Commission, and hadn't really had a chance to catch my breath.

Anyway, at lunch we grabbed a current copy of the San Antonio Current and I was reading the "calendar" items under film.

Three films were screening this weekend, all independent, all made in San Antonio, with blood, sweat and tears. It occured to me how much I love this city, and in contrast to Austin, which I called home for 20 years, our indie scene, our indie FEATURE scene, is really strong. Kerry Valderrama's GARRISON, Pablo Veliz's CLEMENTE, and Kevin Williams' SANDWICH, are all screening within 72 hours of each other. Try to match that, Austin! (OK, OK, we were at Thundercloud Subs for lunch, but hey, that's a part of Austin that HASN'T changed).

San Antonio - Home of the NEW INDEPENDENTS

Go see some great films today!

Garrison Screening

I attended a standing room only screening of Kerry Valderrama'a new feature, "GARRISON", tonight at the Bijou Theater. I only was able to catch the last 20 minutes, but what I saw was impressive, and judging by the applause at the end of the show, the audience liked what they saw. Kerry and producer Aaron Marquette, along with editor Bob Costaldo, did a great job in portraying life - and death - in the contemporary military. Way to go Kerry - I'll look for you on the festival circuit....

See more about "GARRISON" at the website.