Mammoth Film Festival

Describing our Feature Film Tournament as “American Idol for Moviemakers,” MovieMaker magazine just honored the Mammoth Film Festival by naming us to their 2009 List of Top 25 Festivals worth entering.

MovieMaker, the world’s best-selling independent movie magazine, searched festivals across all of North America to come up with this list, so we’re especially proud to be included.

Here’s what they wrote:

If you’ve ever longed to be on “American Idol for Moviemakers,” here’s your chance. A young festival rapidly growing in recognition and praise, MFF hosts a unique, elimination-style movie tournament where the audience chooses the winner. In 2007, its first year, the audience chose especially wisely by selecting Jon Dunham’s Spirit of the Marathon as its winner; the film went on to gross $1 million theatrically in just two nights. With the event set in Mammoth Lakes, an hour flight from L.A., and home to Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, it’s also a chance for Hollywood types to get away from it all–if only for the day.

Thank you, MovieMaker!

You can visit their website, or pick up the current issue on newsstands now. If you’re interested in a subscription, use this link for a special discounted rate.

Those of you who have been up to the Mammoth Film Festival have likely seen at least one Louden Swain show. The unofficial official band of the Festival, they have been kind enough to join us every year, putting on rocking shows at Lakanuki and Auld Dubliner, and even a very cool live acoustic set in the studio at KMMT.

Well, they’ve just released their third full-length album called A Brand New Hurt. You can learn more about the guys, sample the new tracks, and give some iTunes love by going to their website, www.loudenswain.com.

Also, check out this video for the very awesome song “All I Need” off of the new album:

We’re going to try and get them back for this year’s event — come on up and join us!

In addition to continuing the Feature Film Tournament and the Short Film Competition, the 2009 Mammoth Film Festival will add two exciting new competitions: Green films, and Extreme Sports films. These two genres are current cultural touchstones, and are also very relevant to the Mammoth Lakes area.

The Green film competition will be open to films with an environmental theme, such as films about alternative energy, ecological crises, etc. Any films produced in an environmentally conscious manner will also be eligible.

The Extreme Sports competition will be open to films covering winter and summer extreme sports, such as skiing, snowboarding, rockclimbing, etc.

Full details, rules, and eligibility requirements will be posted prior to the May 1, 2009 call for entries. Both competitions will be run separately, and the winning films will be awarded “Best Of” accolades. Prizes and sponsorships will be announced soon.

We can’t wait to expand the Festival to include these important genres, and look forward to giving these filmmakers a venue for their work!

The board has met. The board has voted. Here are the official submission dates and deadlines for the 2009 Mammoth Film Festival:

Early Bird submissions will be accepted beginning May 1, 2009, until June 15, 2009.

Regular submissions will be accepted from June 16, 2009, until August 15, 2009.

Late submissions will be accepted from August 16, until September 30, 2009.

We plan on announcing the accepted roster of films by November 1, 2009.

Details about categories, fees, rules, and eligibility requirements will be made available on the website prior to the May 1 call for entries. Submissions will be accepted either through direct application on our website, or through our partner, Withoutabox. Links will be published in the coming weeks.

We look forward to building a great lineup of films this year!

UPDATE: Please check the submissions page for details.

The 3rd Annual Mammoth Film Festival will take place starting December 3, 2009, and run through Sunday, December 13, 2009.

We had great films at the 2008 event — with subjects from Condoleezza Rice to the Dalai Lama; and topics from marriage to mind control — and we look forward to more of the amazing work that continues to come from independent filmmakers!

Congratulations again to the 2008 winners, and stay tuned for more official announcements, including submission deadlines, and the possible addition of some new and exciting satellite competitions at this year’s festival.