PAH-fest digital media festival comes to Dallas

by PegNews wire

Without art, your soul rots.

So says Christopher Coppola, the self-proclaimed "pirate" of the Coppola family.

Chris would like everyone to know about his forthcoming mini PAH-fest (yeah, I know, it's not a particularly user-friendly title), to be held right here in Big D Nov. 13 - 16. Basically, it's a kind of everyman's (and woman's) film festival on-the-fly, with the opportunity for young filmmakers to use equipment provided by the festival organizers (including actual vidcams, along with video-enabled mobile phones) to make their own artistic statements on video.

PAH-fest will take place in Victory Park and at Booker T. Washington High School, with David Burrows (local filmmaker and creative agency owner) acting as director.

Things (and participants) come together on Sunday, Nov. 16 at Victory Park, where a screening will take place on the big - um - screens at 7 p.m.

Here's the full press release:

Christopher Coppola, filmmaker, “Digivangelist,” nephew of Francis Ford Coppola and the brother of Nicolas Cage is bringing his Mini PAH-FEST, the ground-breaking digital media festival to Dallas from November 13-16. PAH-FEST celebrates the stories and voices of everyday people. Through a variety of fun and exciting local contests, local participants from all walks of life are invited to create their own short digital films with cameras and video-enabled mobile phones provided by the festival. PAH-FEST will be located in Victory Park as well as Booker T. Washington High School.

Coming from a storied Hollywood family, and having directed movies himself, Christopher has one foot in the studio filmmaking system and the other on the frontier of new media storytelling. Christopher calls himself the “Pirate” of the Coppola family because his main goal is to “bridge the gap between Hollywood and the heartland.” Believing that great stories can come from everyday people, he created PAH-FEST (Project Accessible Hollywood) to give voice to those individuals. The concept is simple – people from all walks of life, with stories to tell, are provided with digital equipment and a professional “helping hand” enabling them to create their own short digital films using cell phones. The finished project is then put on the PAH Online Theatre, where it is reviewed by the public and a pool of celebrity judges.

In the past, entertainment was a business of the few, distributed to the many. Today, with the Internet and ongoing advances in digital technologies, visual storytelling is accessible to everyone and as a result, great productions – whether short films, cell phone art, or visual tone poems – can come from everyday man or woman. Christopher’s motto is “Think it, Shoot it, Share it.” PAH-FEST offers participants the opportunity to discover “the artist within us all, and to provide entertaining, quality content to the general public. The finished work is posted on the PAH Online Theatre, where it is reviewed by the public and a pool of celebrity judges

Local filmmaker and creative agency owner, David Burrows, is serving as the Dallas festival director. The event will culminate with a screening on Sunday, November 16 on the screens in Victory Park at 7PM.

“We are excited about this process because the Digital Arena is being used in a powerful way to share individual points of view and interpretations while at the same time bringing individuals closer together through the Creative Process,” said Coppola. “And I believe that art should be as important as toothpaste because without it, your soul rots.”

PAH-FEST celebrates the stories and voices of everyday people and is the place for anyone with a story to tell & a desire to make short films. For information about attending the festival go to www.pahnation.org.

Dallas Mini-PAH is sponsored by the Belmont Hotel, Shinsei Restaurant, Fzzz! Media, and PocketStop Mobile as well as digital technology experts Adobe, Canon, Intel, Dell, and Seagate.

posted by JM