Our first film competition deadline is September 5th, so take advantage of our lowest submission fees of the year!

Click here for more information about the George Sidney Independent Film Competition and the Central Coast Filmmaker Competition. Youth filmmakers have plenty of time to submit – the deadline is in early January 2018.

The next deadline is October 16th, so don’t worry…there’s still plenty of time to send us your film. Our team of over 45 screeners eagerly await your movies!

Happy Labor Day from the SLO Film Fest gang!

Thanks to Kyle and Carlos Plummer for all their work on our new “sizzle reel” that highlights the fun we had at the 2017 SLO Film Fest. Check it out and share it!

Max Weinstein, a visiting journalist from MovieMaker Magazine shared his impressions of the March 2017 Festival in his entertaining article: It’s Quaint at First Glance, but SLO Has a Lot Going On. Read article.

Festival Passes for March 2018 are on sale now, so click here for pass options and prices, and to order. We’re already starting to line up sponsors for new films and events too, so now’s the time to get involved.

Interested in volunteering? Here are the many options. It’s a fun way to make new film-loving friends, be a cog in the ‘wheel’, and experience a little of the behind-the-scenes of the organized chaos!

News is coming soon about our Fabulous Fall Fundraiser so stay tuned.

See you at the (air-conditioned) movies!

Wendy Eidson
SLO Film Fest Director

Hope you’re all enjoying the dog days of summer as much as I am! But if the heat (and smoke) are getting to you, there’s nothing like the distraction of a good movie…

Festival Mozaic is screening three silent films this Friday evening (July 28) at the Fremont Theatre, with live orchestra accompaniment. If you haven’t experienced this combo (live music and film) before, you must! Click here for more details and to buy tickets.

And if you love silent films and live music, stay tuned for some exciting news about a SLO Film Fest Fall Fundraising Event you won’t want to miss…details to be announced in early August!

The Central Coast Writer’s Conference is coming up in September and the SLO Film Fest is sponsoring the opening night, featuring the Oscar-winning screenwriter of DEAD POET’S SOCIETY, Tom Schulman and a screening of that iconic movie that also won a Best Picture Oscar in 1990! Tickets are on sale now, so click here to grab some and find out what else is happening during the jam-packed 3-day conference, happening September 28-30.

And some news about films that screened at recent SLO Film Fest’s:

The exciting sailing adventure documentary, SEA GYPSIES: The Far Side of the World, is now available on iTunes! In early Feb 2014, during the iciest year on record in the Southern Ocean, Infinity and her crew of 16 left New Zealand on an 8,000 mile pacific crossing to Patagonia, with a stop in Antarctica.This expedition was undertaken with a non-ice-reinforced gypsy boat built by hand in the 1970’s, crewed by a band of wandering miscreants, with no permits or insurance and an almost non-existent budget. Now that’s adventure! They are now raising money for an even more hair-raising plan – to sail through the most northerly part of the Northwest Passage, where no one has successfully sailed. Click here to buy SEA GYPSIES and read about their newest schemes of sailing insanity.

And congrats to San Luis Obispo resident Sky Bergman and her production team on the East Coast premiere of LIVES WELL LIVED, just last week at the Maine International Film Festival. Following that is the Canadian premiere at the Lunenburg Doc Fest in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia in late September! This engaging documentary that focuses on a number of inspiring SLO County residents, is now traveling far and wide to celebrate the secrets of wit, wisdom and age with audiences far and wide. Wishing Sky and her team continued fun and success with this wonderful film with its proud roots in SLO County.

Stay cool…see you at the movies!

Wendy Eidson
SLO Film Fest Director

Ann-Margret gives short film winner John Hampian a squeeze after presenting him with the unique SLO Film Fest clapperboard award.

The 2018 SLO Film Fest is coming next March 13-18, and we are now open for film submissions!

There are three competition categories:

The George Sidney Independent Film Competition is open to filmmakers worldwide, and we accept all genres and lengths. Complete instructions are available either here, or on your choice of submission websites, Film Freeway or Withoutabox.

If you are a producer, director or writer of a new film and you live in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo or Monterey County, we encourage you to submit to our Central Coast Filmmaker Showcase. There is a discount on entry fees too!

Our youth competition, Filmmakers of Tomorrow will be open for submissions on July 7th. This is open to young filmmakers, high school age and younger.

We look forward to reviewing your films for possible inclusion in one of the world’s “Top 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee” according to this spring’s coveted list in MovieMaker Magazine!

Happy Summer Solstice! Summer is here and as the thermometer rises, luxurious air-conditioned movie theaters beckon! No matter how you like to spend your summer, we hope you have a good one. And we have a few suggestions of upcoming movie-related events you won’t want to miss.

On Friday, July 28th at 7:30pm, Festival Mozaic presents the Jazz Age: Silent Films and Live Music! Composer and pianist Stephen Prutsman leads a rollicking evening of jazz music and silent films from the jazz age at the historic Fremont Theater in downtown San Luis Obispo. Prutsman will be joined by Steven Copes on violin. Then three silent films will be shown on the gigantic silver screen: The Cameraman’s Revenge (1910), Suspense (1913) and Mighty Like a Moose (1926), with world premiere musical scores written by Stephen Prutsman and co-commissioned with Spoleto Festival USA and the Schubert Club. Tickets are available online for this exciting show!

And if you love silent films, stay tuned for news about a very special SLO Film Fest event coming this fall!

The Central Coast Writer’s Conference at Cuesta College has been helping new and established writers fulfill their dreams for 33 years. Located in picturesque San Luis Obispo County, this conference has a history of excellent keynote speakers, teachers and industry professionals in attendance. The Conference is from Thursday, September 28 – September 30, 2017.

SLO Film Fest is honored to be a sponsor of the Conference this year, and will be helping to host the Opening Night event, honoring DEAD POET’S SOCIETY screenwriter, Tom Schulman, on September 28th and we hope to see you there! Please click here for more information, tickets and the full conference schedule.

At the Downtown Cinemas this summer you’ll find a wide range of movie events presented by Fathom Events. Click here for the schedule, and then plan to enjoy wine, beer and/or a snack in a comfy recliner in this great theatre located conveniently in the center of SLO (parking garage is right across the street too!)

Finally, we are looking for some new “screeners” for our 2018 Festival season. We’ll be putting the call out for movie entries in early July, and would like to add about 20 new people (over 16) to our screening committee, to watch movies from September through December this year. It’s not necessary to be a SLO County resident since it’s all online now, so let us know if you’re interested and we’ll send you an application and more details. Please email us at info@slofilmfest.org and put “Screening Committee” in the subject line.

See you at the movies!

Wendy Eidson
SLO Film Fest Director

We at the SLO Film Fest are saddened at the loss of Adam West, our 2014 Spotlight Award recipient. Our best wishes go out to his lovely family, and special thanks to son-in-law, James Tooley, who shared his entertaining documentary STARRING ADAM WEST with our audiences on opening night that year, only days before the birth of his first child.

We are fortunate to have had the opportunity to honor this gentle, funny, dignified and talented man. He was one-of-a-kind and will be sadly missed!