Upcoming Event: A Celebration of Hispanic Heritage & Film in O-Town
By Diego OrlandiniFriday, June 18, 2010
The 3rd annual Orlando Hispanic Film Festival is just around the corner (September 16-20, to be exact; during Hispanic Heritage Month), and I recently had the pleasure of meeting its Founder and Executive Director, James Schoepflin, and festival supporter Commissioner Tony Ortiz at the Plaza Cinema Cafe, the site of this year's festival.
The festival was conceived by Schoepflin three years ago with the objective of bringing exposure to talented Latino filmmakers from across the globe, giving them the opportunity to show their work and connect with big names in the film industry. OHFF accepts film submissions from all over, with the best films being presented and awarded during the course of the festival.
This year's special guests include Cuban-American actor Steven Bauer (Scarface) and Grammy Award-nominated singer and actress Maria Conchita Alonso. This epic unity of the future of Hispanic film and splendid celebration of the Hispanic community and culture is incredibly unique to Orlando and not to be missed. Schoepflin and Ortiz fill us in on the details.
OTOWNSTYLE.COM: Besides to influence the Latin community and filmmakers, what are your goals for the festival?
JAMES SCHOEPFLIN: What we are doing now is focusing on supporting independent Latino filmmakers in the state of Florida and around the world. We are the only competitive Latino film festival in Florida so we really kicked it up a notch to bring exposure to the filmmakers. That's pretty much what we are getting out of this: the reward of seeing people get their films picked up for distribution and going on to be very successful.
OTS.COM: Any success stories?
JS: We had Gringo Wedding done by [Tas] Salini out of Fort Lauderdale. After the first year, he got picked up by Univision Home Entertainment and he's got a major distribution deal in the U.S. at Blockbuster, Best Buy and all the big major DVD-release companies.
OTS.COM: What are the chances for filmmakers to hit the big screen?
JS: This year is a lot bigger chance because we teamed up with the Florida Media Market out of Miami. We are doing it side-by-side with them this year and they are going to bring some of the biggest executives, producers, distributors, financiers, right here to Orlando... and they will be around our film festival looking for possible acquisitions. That's huge for us, huge for Orlando, and huge for our filmmakers.
OTS.COM: What is the selection process for the films?
JS: We put a call around the world for submission for films. They have to be independent films; they have to be within the last three years completed. Somebody above the line--a director, producer, writer--has to be Hispanic. It could an actor; it could be several actors. Or it could just be about the Latin culture...if it's really focusing on the community or the background of Hispanics, it could be also eligible. We got more than double films submitted this year. It goes to a rigorous process. We have two jurors from the entertainment and educational industry. Two people will view each film and they will give it a score and write comments about it. This year for the OHFF, we have 73 films that were selected. We try to play only the best of the best.
OTS.COM: How did you get involved with the film industry?
JS: I pioneer the International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival in Phoenix, Arizona. My wife got transferred here so I had to end my relationship with them. When I got here I didn't know what I was going to do. I just had the thought there is really not a competitive Latino film festival here. There is film festival for everything, but nothing competitive for Latinos, and the Latino population in this state is gigantic and it really needs to be addressed. So we thought, 'We'll do a little film festival.'
The community felt in love with it. I went to the Chamber of Commerce, talked to all the top leaders there and their eyes were so big that I would even think of doing that here and since I had the means and the knowledge I went ahead and did it. Ever since everyone wants more and more, and we are growing very fast.
OTS.COM: Commissioner Ortiz, how did you get connected with James?
TONY ORTIZ: I met with James last year--I was invited to his film festival and we clicked. After that, we got into helping each other. He decided he wanted to do something bigger. I liked what he was doing, so through the city we combined forces and here we are, celebrating a great film festival that is about to start.
OTS.COM: In regard of the Hispanic Heritage Month and the Latin community how does this event support them?
TO: The Hispanic community has grown tremendously in the city of Orlando. I have District 2 and approximately 30 to 35 percent of my population is Hispanics. When he [James] brings such a great item to our community, [it] really stimulates the economy and the Hispanic community to grow even more. The Hispanic community here in Orlando has embraced what we have here. What [James] is doing is bringing that accent also from the Hispanic standpoint to this community--so the co-mingling becomes easier and smoother, and I think it really helps all the communities coming together, by all means.
OTS.COM: Why did you feel there was a need for a Hispanic film festival in Central Florida?
JS: There are about 2,000 general market films festival in this country, and only about 12 are Latino. They say there are 45 million Hispanics in this country; it's like a big small country. There are a lot Latino films that have been overlooked and that are not getting recognition--and that's what we provide.
For more information, visit www.ohfilmfestival.com or call (321) 274-1570.
