Brenda Lhormer with husband Marc Interview by Kari Ruel Napa Valley Life recently talk with Brenda Llormer, co-founder with he rrhusband Marc of the Napa Valley Film Festival, about NOV E M B E R - D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 4 19 the event. Tell us how and why you and Marc started the festival. Marc and I ran the Sonoma Valley Film Festival for eight years, ending in 2008. We’re not film academics; we’ve just always loved film, as well as food, wine and the California wine country. We got married in Napa Valley. We’ve been together over 25 years, we have a history together, and we’ve worked together in a special events company. After a stint in Seattle, we moved back to the Bay Area and ran the Sonoma festival. But our vision for the festival was a lot bigger than Sonoma could handle. We were meeting a lot of people from Napa so we started looking at the valley as a place to produce a film festival. We finished our last Sonoma film festival in 2008 and started seriously developing the Napa Valley Film Festival. We spent a year and a half talking to general managers of hotels, city council people, supervisors, mayors, everybody who would have a say in whether a film festival would be the right thing for the valley, and to find out if the community would really take ownership. I’m glad we did our due diligence because it really paid off. By the time we launched in 2011, we had the support of the entire valley, which was amazing. And it gets better every year. We’re so blessed to have so many partners, wineries and restaurants, hotels and businesses that participate in some way, which makes a rich and exciting experience for everybody. So we fell into it by getting to know the valley and doing our research, and then we were kind of crazy people and just said let’s do it. The 2014 Napa Valley Film Festival will screen 22 feature films in this year’s juried film competition. The full film program line-up, including out-of-competition special presentations, sneak previews of awards season contenders, and narrative, documentary and animated shorts, is available at NapaValleyFilmFest.org or nvlmag.com. “This is an exceptionally strong year for both the Narrative and Documentary competition programs,” said Program Director Herb Stratford. “These filmmakers have created new works that provoke, inspire, educate and entertain. They are the heart of our program each year, which includes more than 100 new independent films and advance studio screenings, and we are excited to announce their participation in the festival.” Directors of the Narrative and Documentary films in competition participate in NVFF’s unique Artists-in-Residence Program presented in partnership with the incomparable Meadowood Napa Valley. Directors stay at the luxury resort for six nights during the festival and are treated to special events and workshops with their competition group and industry mentors. Meadowood Napa Valley will also award $10,000 to the winning filmmakers in both the Narrative and Documentary competition categories at the Closing Night Awards Ceremony on Sunday, November 16. How to Participate The Napa Valley Film Festival runs from Wednesday, November 12 – Sunday, November 16 with daily shows and events from Napa to Calistoga. Visit NapaValleyFilmFest.org, email customerservice@ napavalleyfilmfest.org or call 707-226-7500 for more information and passes. • Festival Pass is for the film aficionado who wants five-day access to all regular film screenings at screening venues in each town. • Pass Plus offers everything included with the Festival Pass with the added bonus of PRIORITY ACCESS to all film screenings before Festival Pass and Day Pass Holders. • Patron Circle is the ultimate VIP experience and includes three different levels of access and indulgence to choose from. • Single Day Pass provides the same access as Festival Pass but for a single day. Special Event Individual Tickets are available for Traditional Home Showhouse, Oct. 12 – Nov. 16 (closed Mondays), 10:30 am – 5 pm.; Festival Gala, Thursday, November 13, 8 pm.; Celebrity Tribute Program, Friday, November 14, 6:00-7:30 pm (Red Carpet Arrivals 5:30 pm); Awards Ceremony & Wrap Party, Sunday, November 16, 8:30-10 pm; Party: 10:00 pm-Midnight. Co-founder discusses festival’s history, changes Competition’s films important part of the festival’s offerings Continued next page
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