MOORE — The Southern Winds Film Festival prepares to get under way to bring independent movie producers, directors and fans to historic downtown Shawnee Friday and Saturday.
An opening night meet and greet party with filmmakers and fans will be held for VIP guests at 8 p.m. Thursday. In the process, the festival in its fourth annual event is poised to raise awareness of the independent film industry in Oklahoma and abroad.
The festival will kick-off at noon Friday and Saturday packed full with independent films submitted from producers and directors from across the country, as well as some from Okies.
Saturday’s events will include a visit from the Oklahoma band Black June Revival Starting at 11 p.m. inside the Ritz Theatre. The music is a compilation of heavy riffs, melodies, solid hard hitting drumming and a strong defined voice with lyrics written about real life.
Black June Revival’s lead guitarist and vocalist is Shawnee native Matt Campbell.
Independent film lovers will be able to peruse the films at their leisure with an all-access pass, which costs $40. All-access passes include unlimited access to the festival’s films and parties.
All-day passes are available for $25, which includes unlimited access to the films showing that day. Festival goers can purchase single movie passes for $5. Tickets, passes and T-shirts for $15 each can be purchased at the Ritz Theatre, 10 W. Main St., during the festival.
Movie categories are narrative feature, documentary feature, narrative short, documentary short, student feature, student short, Okie home grown feature, Okie home grown short, American Indian and music video. Each category will have a top film chosen by the film judges.
Festival Director James Bridges will select his favorite film of the festival and the audience will vote for their favorites. Announcements and awards will be given Saturday night.
Sponsors for the festival are Shawnee Convention and Visitors Bureau, Vision Bank, Shawnee News-Star, La Quinta Inn & Suites, FilmClick.Com and KGFF 1450 AM.
For more information on the festival, visit southernwindsfilmfestival.com.
