Catalina Island — Hollywood’s Paradise
Twenty-six miles across the sea from the golden coastline of Southern California, sits a majestic island soaring from the deep blue Pacific Ocean. Home to over 60 endemic species and miles of untouched coastlines, this is the west coast’s only resort island. It also happens to be the place where the first movie theatre was constructed specifically to show sound films, the Avalon theatre built in 1929 by William Wrigley Jr. In less than a week, hundreds of movie lovers, filmmakers and industry executives will flock to the island for the 3rd annual Catalina Film & New Media Summit and the 5th annual Catalina Film Festival.
The Festival will start off with hosting the Catalina Film & New Media Summit. In it’s third successful year, the Summit is a media trade hub where hundreds of filmmakers, film financiers and distributors flock to make their deals and participate in panel discussions led by some of the industry’s most successful producers, actors, directors and business professionals.
Among the honorees for the 5th annual Festival are inaugural recipient of the Soundtrack of Our Lives Award, legendary songwriter Diane Warren; Avalon Award recipient, Mena Suvari (American Beauty, American Pie); Isla Earth Award recipient, Kristin Davis (Sex & the City, Couples Retreat); and Crest Award recipient,Lucas Till (X-Men: Apocalypse, Bravetown). The Festival will also pay tribute to Wes Craven, a supporter of the Festival who graciously founded the annual Craven Award for excellence in horror filmmaking and personally selected the winning films.
Past festival honorees include film director Mark Rydell (On Golden Pond, Intersection), writer of comics books Stan Lee (Spider Man, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, X-Men), actress Kate Bosworth (21, Superman Returns, Big Sur), Oscar nominated actress Sharon Stone (Basic Instinct, Casino, Lovelace), actress Bailee Madison (Bridge to Terabithia, Just Go With It), and film director/actor Jon Favreau (Swingers, Iron Man, Chef), Emmy Rossum (Phantom of the Opera, Mystic River, Shameless), William H. Macy (Boogie Nights, Fargo, The Lincoln Lawyer) and Andy Garcia (When a Man Loves a Woman, The Untouchables, Ocean’s Eleven) just to name a few.
The festival runs September 24th thru September 27th. For ticket information visit: www.catalinaff.org
