2016 Omaha Film Festival
The Eleventh Annual Omaha Film Festival returns to the Marcus Village Pointe Theatre from March 8-13th and is thrilled to announce its stellar line-up of domestic and international narrative feature films, documentaries, and short films as well as a fantastic group of over a dozen screenplay finalists. The list of 109 films highlights 10 narrative features, 6 documentaries, and 84 short films in its “in competition” categories. In addition to those films are three special screenings and a brand new “Nebraska Spotlight“ category that includes six narrative feature films and documentaries made in Nebraska or by Nebraskans.
The festival will open on Tuesday, March 8 with their opening night film “Eye in the Sky” which stars Oscar winner Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, and the late Alan Rickman and will close on Sunday, March 13 with its closing night film, winner of three Cannes Film Festival awards including best director, “The Lobster” starring Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz.
The Nebraska Spotlight films include the very personal “It Snows all the Time” produced by Omahan Erich Hover which will be a special engagement film hosted by Borsheim’s Fine Jewelry in cooperation with the Alzheimer’s Association of Omaha , “Black Luck” which was co-directed by David Weiss and Omaha Film Festival Executive Director Jason Levering, “No Resolution” in local music legend Tim Kasher’s directorial debut, “Once in a Lew Moon” the documentary about the amazing life of screenwriting guru and Nebraska native Lew Hunter directed by Lonnie Senstock, last year’s Sundance Film Festival darling “Take Me to the River” which was shot entirely in and around Loop City, NE, and “I Dream of an Omaha Where…” a truly powerful documentary directed by Mele Mason.
The 84 short films that are in competition are split between ten short film blocks over five days and include three blocks of Nebraska made films, one block of all comedies, one block of international shorts, and the always popular block of animated shorts which includes one of this year’s Oscar nominated films.
Some of the recognizable faces in this years’ festival include Bryce Dallas Howard, Melissa Leo, Tobin Bell, Chris Cooper, Kristen Wigg, Jimmy Kimmel, James Franco, Kelsey Grammer, Reggie Watts, Jason Lee, Billy Zane, Conan O’Brian, Lewis Black, Cloris Leachman, William Shatner, John Carpenter, Patton Oswalt , and Lori Singer.
Check out www.omahafilmfestival.org for the full schedule of films, parties, and the conference schedule and for information about passes and individual tickets to events.
omahafilmfestival.org
facebook.com/omahafilmfestival
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One of Movie Maker Magazine’s “50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee”
Over $28,000 in prizes were awarded to the winners of OFF’15
Omaha Film Festival is a 501(c)3 non-profit and is 100% volunteer run
OFF’16 Screenplay Finalists
To celebrate the craft of screenwriting, the Omaha Film Festival is thrilled to present the 2016 Writer’s Theatre. The Writer’s Theatre will be produced and directed by Aaron Zavitz and Scott Kurz and will feature live readings of our screenplay finalists.
The Writer’s Theatre will take place at the Funny Bone Comedy Club
on Wednesday, March 9 from 6:00pm – 10:00pm
Funny Bone Comedy Club – 17305 Davenport Street #201
See schedule for more details!
Feature Length Screenplay Finalists:
Thursday, After School by Tom Radovich
Sanctuary by Scott Pittock
A Posthumous Performance by Drew Wagner
Only The Impassioned by H. C. Turk
Jacksonville by Jeffrey Field
The Angel Rainbow Car Wash by Tom Rossi
Catharsis by Billy McNabb & Hannah Feller
Short Screenplay Finalists:
50 Years of Valentines by Doug Sasse
In Quest of the Bluebird by Robert Mann & Connie Zerden
Calling CQ by Adam Whitaker
Bad Heir Day by Jeffrey Field
The Forward Place by Henry P. Gravelle
Down The Drain by Robert Sheppard
Animal Skins by Bryan Ott
Cast of actors for the live reads includes:
Jill Anderson
Cheri Bloomingdale
Eric Griffith
John Hatcher
Scott Kurz
David Landis
Moira Mangiamelli
Jennifer McGill
Eric Salonis
Kevin Williams
Aaron Zavitz
OFF’scar Party – 2016
Sunday, February 28 from 5:00pm – 11:00pm
at Slowdown – 729 North 14th Street, Omaha, NE
Come join us at Slowdown, one of Omaha’s hottest night clubs, for our annual OFF’scar Night Party!
Red Carpet starts at 6:00pm, Show starts at 7:30pm
Doors open at 5:00pm
Come watch some television with us on their massive projected screen and state of the art sound system!
Food will be provided by our friends at Brazen Head, Champions Club, and China Buffet.
Photobooth by our friends at Panda Pix!
Cash bar! Must be at least 21 to attend!
Buy an All Access Pass online at www.omahafilmfestival.org for free entry into this party as well as all of our other parties and events throughout the week of the festival, or passes can be purchased at the party.
Individual entry into this event is only $15!
Tons of prizes and raffle items!
Cash/Checks only (sorry…no credit cards!)
Dress – Some folks will be casual, but most will be “dressed for the occasion”
Check out our Facebook Event Page for more information.
OFF’16 Release Party
Friday, February 12 from 6:00pm – 11:00pm
at the Omaha Film Festival OFFice – 2626 Harney Street, Omaha, NE
Greetings filmmakers, screenwriters, and film enthusiasts,
Friday evening, February 12th from 6:00pm to 11:00pm, come check out the beautiful North Sea Films building and visit the Omaha Film Festival folks to discuss the upcoming Eleventh Annual Omaha Film Festival. There will be plenty of time to socialize and meet filmmakers, screenwriters, and actors to discuss upcoming projects, and we’d like to take some time to talk about some festival specific topics.
For those in attendance, we will be unveiling our list of films for the first time to the general public, so this is your chance to be the first to know! As you know, we show some of the best independent feature films, documentaries, short films, and animated short films every year, and we’re very excited about the films that we’ve chosen to showcase this year.
During the film announcement portion of the evening we will have an open dialog and encourage everyone to get involved in helping us market the specific films that we will be screening. This year’s festival has a little something for everyone and the more people that come and get excited about it and help us spread the word, the better the event will be for everyone.
Aaron Zavitz and Scott Kurz will be in attendance to talk about this year’s Writer’s Theatre.
We plan to have the OFF’16 posters and post cards available for those that would like to help us get the word out and we plan on having our 2016 festival t-shirts available for the first time as well so you can be the first ones to wear them!
Delightful beverages are being supplied by our friends at Quality Brands and as always, you can expect some fantastic selections from our friends at Soaring Wings Vineyard!
There will be tons of door prizes and raffle drawings, including OFF t-shirts and festival passes, so come join the fun!
Attendance is free and open to the public!
NOTE: Additional parking is available in the FBG parking lot across the street from the OFFice!
Check out our Facebook Event Page for more information.
Call for Entries!
The CALL FOR ENTRIES for the Eleventh Annual Omaha Film Festival is open!
One of Movie Maker Magazine’s “50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee” the 11th Annual Omaha Film Festival will be March 8-13, 2016 in Omaha, NE.
Over $28,000 in prizes were awarded to filmmakers and screenwriters at the 2015 Omaha Film Festival. We look forward to seeing your feature films, documentaries, short films, and reading your feature and short length screenplays!
Film categories:
Narrative Feature, Documentary, Short Film, Animated Short, and Nebraska Short.
Screenplay categories:
Feature Screenplay & Short Screenplay (under 30 pages)
Go to our Call for Entries tab for more information and access to our entry forms and links to FilmFreeway and Withoutabox.
O-Comic Con
Come check out our booth May 28th-30th at the Mid-America Center at the first annual O-Comic Con! We’re just inside the main entrance so you can’t miss us. Lots of great panels and activities and an opportunity to dress up any way you like for a couple of days. Sign up to be on our mailing list and every two hours where we’re giving away lots of OFF swag including tshirts, shot glasses, beer mugs, and even some All Films passes for OFF’16! And we’ll be showing animated and comedy short films in our booth all weekend so stop by and hang out with us!
For more information follow this link: O-Comic Con
2015 Omaha Gives!
As a 501(c)3 the Omaha Film Festival is proud to participate in the Omaha Gives! 24-hour charitable challenge on May 20, 2015. What is it? An opportunity for the people in our awesome community to donate to the non-profits that they love and have their funds matched by the Omaha Community Foundation to provide greater financial support to organizations like us!
On May 20th from midnight to midnight with a minimum donation of $10 you can help support the Omaha Film Festival and participate with us to continue to bring amazing independent film to our cultural landscape. We will be joining nearly 700 local nonprofits to raise money together and compete for matching funds and prize money. The more money we raise, the larger percentage of the bonus dollars we will receive. The more donors we get to give to us, the more likely we are to win prizes.
For more information and to make your donation on May 20th go to omahagives24.org!
And look for Jason, Marc, and Julie the evening of the 20th at The Funny Bone (Village Pointe) at our Laugh Your Ca$h OFF celebration. Between 7:00pm and 10:00pm we’ll be enjoying our favorite drinks and sharing past OFF stories. We would love to have you come out and join us and grab the microphone and tell us your favorite OFF memory! There will be no admission but Omaha Gives donation stations will be available to help us raise money. And if you donate, you may find yourself eligible to smash your favorite festival director in the face with a cream pie!
Check out the facebook event page for more information:
https://www.facebook.com/events/361731894033170/
To go to our Omaha Gives! page directly: https://www.omahagives24.org/index.php?section=organizations&action=overview&fwID=1199
Thank you for your continued support!
Omaha Film Festival
www.omahafilmfestival.org
www.facebook.com/omahafilmfestival
twitter.com/omahafilmfestvl
How can you help the Omaha Film Festival during Omaha Gives!?
• Schedule a gift! For your convenience, you can schedule gifts between May 1 and 19. We encourage you to donate early if you cannot participate on May 20.
• Donate to us on May 20th!
• Spread the word! Tell your friends that you will be giving to the Omaha Film Festival during Omaha Gives! on May 20th and that you need their help.
• Post about Omaha Gives! on your social media pages. Let your friends and followers know how they can give and how their donations can help us win matching and prize funds.
• Cheer us on! On May 20th, watch the leaderboard on Omahagives24.org and update our progress on social media.
• Save the date. May 20th, 2015 will be a great day of generosity in Omaha. Get excited and ready to share your enthusiasm for the Omaha Film Festival throughout the day.
• Thank you for your support! We can’t wait to see the Omaha community band together to give.
ABOUT THE OMAHA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
The Omaha Community Foundation connects people who care about our community with the people and nonprofits who are doing the most good here. The Foundation simplifies giving and provides tools for donors to do more with their gifts. They support nonprofits through grant programs, a Nonprofit Capacity Building program, and Omaha Gives!
More than 1,300 individuals, families, and organizations rely on the Omaha Community Foundation to help facilitate their charitable giving. Since the Omaha Community Foundation’s inception in 1982, those donors have given more than $1.1 billion to more than 1,800 charitable organizations. The Omaha Community Foundation helps donors manage their charitable giving, whether the donor gives $1,000 a year or $1,000,000 a year.
