NEARLY 700 FILMS SUBMITTED TO NFFTY 2011

Youth-made Film Submissions Reflect A More United World

(Seattle, WA, Feb. 16, 2011)  The National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY) closed film submissions yesterday after receiving nearly 700 submissions, double the amount of entries last year.  The festival received submissions from 25 countries and 40 US states.  2011 marked a significant increase in female filmmaker submissions as well.

This year’s festival theme is “United By Film, Future By NFFTY.”  The hope is to demonstrate how everyone, from festival attendees to filmmakers, is brought together by film and that the future of film will be seen at NFFTY.  This year’s submissions embody the “United By Film” theme.  Despite cultural and geographic differences, the 2011 films show that today’s youth are drawn to share stories about the basic human emotions and condition.

NFFTY programmers note that the economic downturn and devastating world issues have made a strong impact on youth throughout the world.  “Even though many of the films are uplifting and comedic, there is an increase this year in films dealing with darker and more serious issues,” comments Jesse Harris, Executive Director.

NFFTY will present this year’s collection of films April 28 through May 1 in Seattle.  Kicking off the festival is Opening Night at Cinerama directly followed by an after-party at the Space Needle.  “This has been a great year for NFFTY.  We’ve launched a youth filmmaking workshop series, membership program, had a heavy traffic increase on our website and developed relationships with exciting new sponsors.  NFFTY 2011 presenting sponsors are: Volvo Cars of North America, Bing, Nike 6.0, and Imbee.com,” states Harris.

Festival Passes and Opening Night Gala tickets are available now online at www.nffty.org, with individual tickets and the complete schedule becoming available online March 8.

About NFFTY: NFFTY (National Film Festival for Talented Youth) is the largest and most influential film festival for young filmmakers (age 22 and under). NFFTY occurs each spring in Seattle, Washington and includes up to 200 film screenings, filmmaking panels, film contests, parties, and opportunities for young filmmakers to network with industry professionals and each other. Young filmmakers from around the world submit feature-length and short films in narrative, documentary, animation, music video, experimental, and action sport categories.  More than 10,000 film fans are expected at NFFTY 2011, April 28-May 1.  For more information, please visit www.nffty.org

The ta-tas® Brand (est. 2004) and Save the Ta-tas® Foundation (est. 2008) were created by Los Angeles resident, Julia Fikse (a fellow Aggie and UC Davis Alum!), as a way to fight breast cancer using laughter and fun. Her playful line of t-shirts and accessories include messages such as “Save the Ta-tas®” “Friends Don’t Let Friends Lose Ta-tas®,” as well as their top selling, Boob Lube®, a soap that promotes self breast exams.

The ta-tas® Brand donates 5% of their gross sales equaling nearly 50% of their profits to the cause.  The Save the Ta-tas Foundation has donated $500,000 to the cause thus far, and funds exciting and innovative research searching for fresh approaches to fight against cancer. Fikse and the foundation are involved in numerous awareness-raising campaigns ranging from the Revlon Run/Walk for Women to corporate philanthropy, volunteer work and community involvement.

Julia’s message of hope and humor has reached thousands of victims and survivors of breast cancer and has helped them to fight the disease with both wit and courage. Members of Fikse’s own family have battled with breast cancer and they were the inspiration for Julia to launching this company and foundation.

A ton of media have helped spread Julia’s message this month.  Please help me continue to spread the importance of giving back while raising awareness and money for breast cancer research.  Just a few of my favorites…

A little background… The National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY, pronounced “nifty”) was founded in 2007. In only four years, NFFTY has become the largest and most influential film festival and support organization for filmmakers age 22 and under. NFFTY occurs annually each spring in Seattle, WA and includes more than 100 film screenings, filmmaking workshops and opportunities for young filmmakers to network with industry professionals, film fans, and each other. Young filmmakers from around the world submit feature-length and short films in narrative, documentary, animation, music video, experimental and action sports categories.

You can see from the NFFTY 2010 trailer that some amazing films were screened at the festival this year…

Not only were the films themselves amazing, but the events surrounding the festival. NFFTY’s opening night party was on par with a Hollywood Premiere Party (featuring Vitamin Water and Volvo) and the 48-hour Film Off (sponsored by Nike 6.0) was incredible.

The NFFTY 2010 Highlights.  The future of film.

Media highlights include:

And some great pictures from the festival!

And if that’s not enough? Check out this commercial the 24-year-old founder, Jesse Harris, made for this year’s NFFTY.  That’s right… he made a feature film when he was 17!  That’s why he was named one of the Top 25 under 25 in Variety this year.

Usher, Nigel Lythgoe and Neil Stiles at LA's BEST 14th Annual Family Brunch

LA’s BEST event was a huge success. LA’s BEST After School Enrichment Program’s 14th Annual Family Brunch, which salutes the importance of family and honors those in our community who contribute significantly to children in Los Angeles, honored singer and entrepreneur Usher Raymond IV, known as Usher, with the Family Focus Award. The brunch was held on June 7, 2009 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown LA.

LA’s BEST – Better Educated Students for Tomorrow – is a nationally recognized after school education, enrichment and recreation program serving more than 28,000 children with the greatest needs and fewest resources at 180 elementary schools throughout the City of Los Angeles. LA’s BEST provides a safe haven for children ages 5 to 12 each day during the critical hours after school – at no cost to parents. Established in 1988, LA’s BEST is a partnership including the City of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Unified School District and the private sector. For more information, please visit www.lasbest.org.

Usher accepts the Family Focus Award. Service is Power!

Liza Lapira (she's a doll!) and Usher.

A little about empowerME:
empowerME is a by kids, for kids movement to improve my health and the health of others while inspiring us to eat healthier and move more, to motivate each other, and to be a solution to America’s obesity epidemic.

The empowerME movement facilitates programs and activities to engage, educate and activate youth ages 8-17 across the country to take charge of their own health. One million kids have already joined the movement and empowerME wants one million more by 2010!

For more information please visit www.empowerME2B.org.

About the Alliance for a Healthier Generation:
The William J. Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association partnered in May of 2005 to create a new generation of healthy Americans by addressing one of the nation’s leading public health threats – childhood obesity. The goal of the Alliance is to reduce childhood obesity by 2015, and to empower kids nationwide to make healthy lifestyle choices. The Alliance will positively affect the places that can make a difference to a child’s health: homes, schools, restaurants, doctor’s offices and communities. For more information on the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, please visit: www.HealthierGeneration.org.

The Alliance for a Healthier Generation! Tezlaff students with Sabrina Bryan of The Cheetah Girls and Dancing with the Stars.

Sabrina Bryan helped launch the movement with a great viral video and contest. Sabrina’s top five tips to get and stay healthy:

1. Get 60 minutes of physical activity every day
2. Drink primarily water, low fat milk and juice that is 100% juice, no added sugar
3. Eat fruits and vegetables with EVERY meal
4. Get at least 9 hours of sleep every night
5. Cut back on screen time and limit it to 1-2 hours a day

Video shoot with Youth Advisory Board members.

Sabrina with the principal, superintendent and Tezlaff students.

The kids have a great time learning that dance is exercise!

Sabrina teaches kids to "get moving!"

Sabrina and YAB members study up for the PSA portion of the video shoot.

The final product! Sabrina Bryan challenge kids across the country to be healthy and to make their own workout video to help launch the empowerME movement.

18 in ’08 is a national nonpartisan peer to peer youth voter engagement and mobilization organization created to register, engage, and mobilize young voters specifically for the 2008 election. It is the first national youth voter organization to be run by someone under 21.

The Film: The film features leading politicians and public figures including: Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. Sam Brownback, James Carville, Sen. Chris Dodd, Sam Donaldson, Richard Dreyfuss, Sen. John Kerry, Sen. Joe Lieberman, as well as a diverse array of students from around the country. Screenings of the film were held around the country in high schools, colleges, and communities, followed by talk backs with politicians, elected officials, and activists and on site voter registration.

The Movement: 18 in ’08 has put together exciting partnerships with organizations including The CW Networks, The National Constitution Center, Declare Yourself, Mobilize.org, Why Tuesday?, SAVE, Generation Engage, and Project Vote Smart. 18 in ’08 is planning a 50 college tour for this fall, a celebrity PSA series, web video and social network initiatives, a fashion voter awareness campaign, and sponsoring political dialogues with candidates and elected officials on the state and federal level focused exclusively on youth issues. 18 in ’08 has been featured on the ABC Evening News, CSPAN, CNN, NPR, Geraldo, Fox & Friends, and in The Boston Globe, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Village Voice, The Huffington Post, and The Politico among other media outlets.

The Future of Change: David D. Burstein, 20, is the Founder and Executive Director of 18 in ‘08. The nation’s largest youth run young voter engagement organization. The organization is based on David’s documentary film of the same name. 18 in ’08 is aimed at getting young voters engaged with the political process, is the product of three years traveling the country, interviewing over 100 Congressmen, Senators, presidential candidates, policy makers, activists.

In the 2008 election, 18 in ‘08 was a major national campaign to register, engage, and mobilize young voters for the presidential election. He currently serves on the advisory boards of the Westport Youth Film Festival and Presidential Classroom. He is a student at Haverford College in Pennsylvania. He resides in Weston, Connecticut. You can learn more about David and “18 in ‘08” at www.18in08.com.

I walked the Avon walk in San Francisco in 2007. To date, it was one of the most amazing experiences in my life. I met some incredible women and was truly touched by everyone who supported me and this cause.

Even after 13 blisters and a long week of recovery, I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything.

For more info, please visit avonwalk.org and for two days, walk as one.

I had the chance to visit New Orleans six months after Hurricane Katrina hit and just days before Mardi Gras began. I have never been to such a welcoming city! Clorox and Glad trash bags sponsored Mardi Gras – the first corporate sponsor EVER. Our team, including hometown favorite, Eli Manning, wore gorgeous bright yellow shirts for our pre-Mardi Gras clean up event and were welcomed with hugs, honks and compassionate thank you’s for coming and helping keep the city clean.