9TH ANNUAL CATALINA FILM FESTIVAL WRAPS WITH ACADEMY AWARD-WINNER, MIRA SORVINO, RECEIVING THE AVALON AWARD; BEST OF FEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED

9TH ANNUAL CATALINA FILM FESTIVAL WRAPS WITH ACADEMY AWARD-WINNER,
MIRA SORVINO, RECEIVING THE AVALON AWARD; BEST OF FEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED

5-Day Film Fest Featured Premieres, Parties & Events on The Queen Mary in Long Beach & Catalina Island;

Other Notable Attendees Included Jaeden Martell (It, It Chapter 2), Kevin Alejandro (Lucifer), Jessica Sipos (Dark Harbor), Lesley Ann Warren (Victor/Victoria) & More

Los Angeles, CA (September 30, 2019)-The five-day Catalina Film Festival (CFF) wrapped its 9th annual festival in coastal sister cities with premieres, parties, and panels in iconic and historic film venues: The Queen Mary in Long Beach and the Avalon Casino Theatre on Catalina Island.

Festival highlights included the Avalon Award presentation to Oscar-winning actress Mira Sorvino who starred in the world premiere of “Badland” alongside Kevin Makely, Bruce Dern and Trace Adkins. Fan favorite, Thriller Thursday, featured the Wes Craven block of horror films, along with the world premiere of “Dark Harbor,” directed by Joe Raffa, starring Joel McHale (Community, The Soup) with cast in attendance: Jessica Sipos, Xander Berkeley, Sterling Hurst, Connor Trineer, Reiko Aylesworth, Nickolas Wolf and Jillian Armenante. Also in attendance were Kevin Alejandro (Lucifer, True Blood) with the short films “The Talk” & “Smile,” plus Jaeden Martell (It, It Chapter 2), Nick Jandl (Nashville), Mike Doyle (New Amsterdam).

The Festival also featured the Film & New Media Summit, with panels that included “Making Your First Feature Film” with Duane Swierczynski, TV/Film writer; Adrian Ward, film financier/deal maker; Zachary Tarica, CEO of the The Forest Road Company; and Taylor Braun, Film Festival Specialist from Chapman University. Also aboard the Queen Mary – a spotlight interview with iconic actress, Lesley Ann Warren, moderated by film historian, Jim Hemphill.

On the island, Catalina Film Fest’s Lion’s Den was stacked with prospective film investors. The annual pitch-fest matched accredited investors with filmmakers seeking funding for their projects with industry notables Shawn Nightingale, Producer; Grady Craig, Bondit Media Capital; Jennifer Bergeron, Private Equity Investor and Producer; Viviana Zarragoitia, VP of Three Point Capital and Producer; Barbara Bickham, Trailyn Ventures.

2019 CATALINA FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS:

    • Avalon Award – Mira Sorvino
    • Best of Fest – U.S. Feature – “Cicada Song” (World Premiere)
    • Award of Excellence – U.S. Feature – “Badland” & “Dark Harbor” (World Premieres)
    • Best of Fest – U.S. Short Film – “Men of Vision”
    • Award of Excellence – U.S. Short Film – “The Scorpion’s Tale” & “The Cake”
    • Best of Fest – Documentary Film (Worldwide) – “Stronger than Carr”
    • Award of Excellence – Documentary Film (Worldwide) – “Camp Alec”
    • Best of Fest – Screenplay – “Kid Soldier”
    • Award of Excellence – Screenplay – “Deep East Texas”
    • Best of Fest – International Short Film – “Janek/Bastard”
    • Award of Excellence – International Short Film – “The Portraitist”
    • Best of Fest – International Feature Film – “RWANDA”
    • Catalina Spotlight Awards – Chuck Liddell, presented by Golden Globe-winner Joseph Bottoms & Lolo Saldana
    • Deb Bauer “Unsung Hero Award” – “Father of the Flying Car”
    • Award of Excellence – High School Student Film: (Worldwide): “Screen Age” & “Artificial Connection”
    • Award of Excellence – Advanced Student Film (Worldwide) – “8”
    • Best of Fest – Advanced Student Film (Worldwide) – “Piggy Bank Proposition”
    • Award of Excellence – Animation Short Film (Worldwide) – “Substance”
    • Best of Fest – Animation Short Film (Worldwide) – “Destination: Unknown”
    • Award of Excellence – Conservation Film – “Saving Ohi’a”
    • Best of Fest – Conservation Film – “The Last Herd”
    • CFF Festival Treasure Award – “Barbie’s Kenny”
    • Best Actor, Male: Ben Gail – “Happy To Help”
    • Best Actor, Male Comedy: Aaron Serotsky – “Men of Vision”
    • Best Actor, Female: Kimberley Wintle – “Mabel”
    • Best Actor,  Female Comedy: Leslie Vincent – “Fairy Tail”
    • Best Child Actor, Charity Rose – “Piggy Bank Proposition”
    • Best Cinematography, Mac Fisken – “High Desert Hell”
    • Best Supporting Actor, Male: Markets Christmas – “Unicorns”
    • Best Supporting Actor, Female – Jordan Knapp- “8”
    • Best Director,  Frank Todaro – “Men of Vision”

PRESS IMAGES: http://bit.ly/CATALINAMEDIA

ABOUT CATALINA FILM FESTIVAL & FILM INSTITUTE

Catalina Film Festival is an annual celebration of film in Southern California with coastal screenings and events in Long Beach and on Hollywood’s Island. Past CFF honorees include Nicolas Cage, Jon Favreau, Stan Lee, Kevin Hart, William H. Macy, Andy Garcia, Sharon Stone, Emmy Rossum, Richard Dreyfuss, and more. 2019 sponsors include The Cafaro Group, Building Image Group (BIG), Bogart Spirits, REED’S INC, REZ – Recovery Brands, BANDERO Tequila, Catalina Express, Toyon Grill, Bezalel, ABK BEER, Horseshoe Bend Vineyards, Sprint. Follow @CatalinaFilm, #CatalinaFilm  www.catalina film.org.

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Contact: Jennifer Chidester jennifer@modernprinc.com, JP Petrini jp@modernprinc.com